Principal liturgies used in the Christian church in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist

A

I COLLECTION x

OF THE

PRINCIPAL LITURGIES,

USED IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE CELEBRATION OF THE

HOLY EUCHARIST:

IJartfculaiij? tfje glncitnt,

j-

VIZ.
THE CLEMENTINE, AS IT STANDS IN THE BOOK CALLED THE APOSTOLICAL

CONSTITUTIONS;
THE LITURGIES OF ST. JAMES, ST. MARK, ST. CIIRYSOSTOM, ST BASIL, &C.

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY SEVERAL HANDS.

WITH

A DISSERTATION UPON THEM,

SHEWING THEIR USEFULNESS AND AUTHORITY, AND POINTING OUT THEIR SEVERAL
CORRUPTIONS AND INTERPOLATIONS.

BY

THOMAS BRETT, LL. D.

BCT BEFORE ALL THINGS, THIS WR MUST BE SURE OF ESPECIALLY, that this Slipper be in

such wise done and ministered, as our Lord and Saviour did and commanded to be done,
as his holy Apostles used it, and THE GOOD FATHERS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH FRE
QUENTED IT. — Church of England's Homily concerning the Sacrament, part I.

LONDON:

RIVINGTON AND CO. ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD.
W. DEARDEN, NOTTINGHAM.

1838.

W. Dearden, Printer, Nottinghi

' ^^ *£ /r-d^C &&»U£Z/ .p&&~

PREFACE.

OF the many controversies, which of late )7ears have
exercised and divided the Christian Church, this now
under our consideration is not the least significant : For
the dispute is concerning the matter of the Christian
sacrifice, and the form of administering that sacred
ordinance : and last, how diffused our charity ought to
be, when we offer the memorial of our dying Saviour,
whether confined to the Militant Church on earth, or
extended to those also who have fought the good fight,
and are departed from us with the sign of faith. It is
urged on the other hand,

1st. That water is an essential part of the Eucharis-
tic Cup.

2dly. That the ohlation of the elements to God the
Father; and,

3dly. The invocation of the Holy Spirit upon them,
are essential parts of consecration ; and,

4thly. That the faithful departed ought to be recom
mended in the eucharistic commemoration.

The advocates of these usages have appealed,

1st. To Scripture interpreted by early Fathers.

2dly. To universal Tradition, for the proof of their
assertions.

l* PREFACE.

Their opponents on the other hand, who deny the
essentiality of these things, have endeavoured to wrest
the Holy Scriptures from them, and draw those sacred
records to their own party ; and then argue, that tradi
tion without Scripture is not of authority enough to
establish a doctrine, or found a necessary practice upon :
and likewise, that the tradition pleaded for these usages,
is not so full and unexceptionable as it is pretended to
be. In proof of which, a learned author has laid down
these two propositions, which he endeavours to main
tain ;

1st. Scripture, not Tradition, is prescribed by our
Lord to his disciples as the rule they are to walk by,
and which we are necessarily to adhere to.*

2dly. The tradition pleaded for the four controverted
points, is not so full and unquestionable as it is repre
sented to be. If either of these propositions, says he,
much more if both of them can be proved to be true, the
pleas brought for the essentiality of the usages now con
tended for, must necessarily be acknowledged to be false.
And by consequence, the practices built upon those pleas,
must be erroneous and ill-grounded.

I shall leave the reader to judge of the truth of this
last proposition, when he shall have perused the follow
ing sheets ; for I am persuaded he will think the follow
ing Liturgies sufficient evidences for the fulness of the
tradition pleaded on behalf of the controverted points.
But because they may not be thought by some people
to be unquestionable ones too, as not being early
enough in point of time, or as having undergone some

* No Sufficient Reason, &c. part 1. page 2.

PREFACE.

alterations since they were first composed and used in
the several churches to which they are said to have
belonged ; the learned Dr. Brett has added a disserta
tion upon them, wherein he has proved, that what they
contain, relating to the present controversy, was the
doctrine and practice of the first ages of Christianity,
and likewise of the ages in which they are allowed by
all to have been wrote ; which is a sufficient answer
to the foregoing objections. But because this author
is pleased frequently to call the tradition upon which
he supposes them founded, and the usages themselves,
unscriptural, it would be but of little use to the learned
doctor to have proved the antiquity and universality of
them, and the consent with which they were received,
if that gentleman's first proposition holds true. I shall
beg leave therefore to make some remarks upon it;
and the rather, because so much depends upon it, more
I fear than the learned author designed there should.

And here, before I enter upon it, I think proper to
declare, that I hold the Holy Scriptures in as high
esteem and value as this gentleman, or any other per
son living. I believe them to be the Word of GOD,
and consequently true, and that if controversies do arise
concerning religion, there is no appeal from their de
termination ; for whatever testimony, how positive or
universal soever, can be brought in contradiction to
them, must be false, because truth cannot belong both
to the affirmative and negative side of the same propo
sition; and therefore the Scriptures being true, such
other testimony produced in contradiction to them,
must be false. I believe likewise the Scriptures of the

VI PREFACE.

New Testament to be as assuredly the Word of God,
as those of the Old, and consequently of as much cre
dit, notwithstanding the Scriptures of the Old Testa
ment have the attestation of the New ; but those of the
New neither do nor can witness for themselves, nor
have they any Revelation, either before or since their
being collected into a canon, to speak for them. I
know not how far that learned gentleman agrees with
me, but so much being premised, I shall proceed to
examine his first proposition, which stands thus :

Scripture, not Tradition, is prescribed by our Lord
to his disciples as the rule they are to walk by, and
which we are necessarily to adhere to.

Here the reader may observe two propositions clapped
together, one affirmative, and the other negative. I
will therefore take the liberty to separate them, and
then I think they will stand thus :

1st. Scripture is prescribed by our Lord to his disci
ples as the rule they are to walk by.

2dly. Tradition is not prescribed by our Lord to his
disciples as the rule they are to walk by.

Again. Our author's design being to prove that our
Lord prescribed Scripture, exclusive of all other things,
as the rule to his disciples, I will take the liberty to
insert the word only, i. e. only ride. And this I think
I am authorized to do ; because after having produced
his citations from the Scriptures and the fathers to prove
his assertion, he concludes : Thus have we the authority
of the Scriptures taught from time to time, as the OUlg
rule prescribed by our blessed Lord, fyc. This then is
the proposition he is to prove :

PREFACE. vil

Scripture is prescribed by our Lord to his disciples as
the only rule they are to walk by.

If tliis be true, I am afraid it will very much sink
the credit of the New Testament. For if Scripture is
prescribed by our Lord to his disciples as the only rule
they are to walk by, it must be such Scripture as was
in being at the time when he gave that direction ; con
sequently the Scripture of the Old Testament, for the
New could be no part of that rule, because not any one
book of it was wrote till several years after our Lord
was ascended to the right hand of the Father, and had
ended his conversation with his disciples on earth.

This I think is so plain, that I need not offer any
proof of it. However if it need any, I shall give you
the passages of Scripture produced by that gentleman,
as the foundation upon which he builds his hypothesis.
The first is,* To the law and to the testimony ; if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is
no light in them. Isaiah viii. 20. And again, Seek ye
out of the book of the Lord, and read. Ch. xxxiv. 16.
Whoever reads must be surprised to find these texts
brought to point out the rule which our Lord prescribed
to his disciples to walk by, forasmuch as they were wrote
long before he appeared in the flesh, and consequently
before he had any disciples to prescribe to ; nor were
they at any time afterwards, that I know, quoted by
him, for this or any other end. But supposing he had
quoted them, he could have designed no more for them,
than what the prophet before had done ; for if he had
designed more, that would have been to establish sorne-

* No Sufficient Reason, part I. p. 2,

Mil PREFACE.

thing upon their authority which they did not enjoin
But if no more had heen designed by them, the doctrine
founded thereupon would be, -that the same law, the
same testimony, the same book of the Lord, were to be
the only rule both to the Jews before his coming, and
to those which were to confess his name afterwards :
consequently that taw, that testimony, must be con
tained in the Old Testament, there being no other book
of the Lord to which the prophet could refer, because
none else was stamped with that authority, or could
plead a sanction from Divine Revelation. However,
notwithstanding this author's arguments, which if they
proved any thing to his purpose, must conclude against
the authority of the New Testament ; we firmly believe
it, to be the Word of God, and written by the assistance
of his Holy Spirit; and therefore if we find any thing
decisive in it relating to the dispute between us, we
must acquiesce in its determination. I shall therefore
examine what advantage he can reap from thence, since
he is willing to call that in to his assistance. Here he
tells us, that our Saviour says, Search the Scriptures.
(John v. 39.) and that the Jews at Berea are commend
ed by St. Paul, as more noble, of a milder and better
temper and disposition than those at Thessalonica, and
for this reason, because they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily.
Acts xvii. 11. I need do nothing more than transcribe
the whole passages from whence our author has picked
what he conceived most to his purpose, to convince the
world that they do not speak what he would have them.
Search the Scriptures, says our Saviour, for in them

CONTENTS.

) . The Clementine Liturgy

2. St. Jame's Liturgy 1 1

3. St. Mark's Liturgy 2"2

4. St. Chrysostom's Liturgy 32

5. The Liturgy of St. Basil, as used at Constantinople 44

6. The Liturgy of St. Basil, as used at Alexandria 55

7. The Liturgy of the Church of Ethiopia 63

8. Nestorius's Liturgy • 7 1

9. The Liturgy of Severus, Patriarch of the Monophysites at Antioch .... 80

10. Fragments of the Gothic or Gothico-Gallican Missal 89

1 1 . Fragments of the ancient Gallican Missal 91

12. Fragments of the Mosarabic Missal 93

13. The Roman Missal, commonly called the Mass 96

14. The Communion Office, according to the Liturgy of king Edward VI. 104

15. The New Communion Office Ill

16. St. Justin Martyr's Account of the manner of celebrating the eucharist

in his days 119

17. The Fifth Mystagogical Catechism of St. Cyril of Jerusalem concerning

the eucharist 122

CONTENTS

THE DISSERTATION

PAGE

§. 1. The Introduction, giving a brief general account of the Liturgies
here published 128

§. 2. The reason why we have not so full and clear an account of the
ancient Liturgies, as we desire, is, because they were not originally put
into writing, lest the Christian mysteries should be discovered to the
Heathen. — This shewn by Mr. Johnson 130

§. 3. This proved from some general texts of Scripture 134

§. 4. And from such texts as particularly concern the eucharist 135

§. 5. And by the testimonies of the Ante-Nicenc fathers 141

§. 6. Nevertheless all the parts of the Eucharistical Office may be collected
from the writings of the fathers, and is faithfully transmitted to us in
the ancient Liturgies 1 14

§. 7. These Liturgies a good evidence of the ancient apostolical form of
ministering the holy eucharist. — And the Clementine Liturgy the best
copy or exemplar of that form 145

§. 8. The objection of Rcnaudotius that the Clementine Liturgy has been
interpolated, is shewn to be made without so much as an ofler at any
proof that it is so. — And that Liturgy is vindicated from tlie charge of
interpolations, by a proposal to examine all the particulars of it. — The
Fan or Fly flap, and the Bishop's shining garment, cannot be proved to
be interpolations, though not material whether they be or not M6

§. 9. The objection that the Clementine Liturgy was never used by any
Church, shewn to be of no force against it, since the Liturgies of all
Churches agreed with it in sense though not in words 149

§. 10. 1 propose to shew the Clementine Liturgy to be the best exemplar of
the old traditional form, taught by the Apostles 1,31

§. 11. The beginning of this Liturgy, with the dismission of the Catechu
mens, &.c. proved to have been the practice of the ancient Church 102

§. 12. Of the use of the Sign of the Cross by the ancient Christians on all
occasions, and particularly at the celebration of the eucharist 1 .5:3

CONTENTS OF THE DISSERTATION.

§. 13. Of the suffrages at the beginning of that and all other Liturgies ^168

§, M. Of the Eucharistic or Thanksgiving Prayer, immediately following

the suffrages, and continued to the end of the oblation lf>9

§. 15. Of the words of institution, always used in the form of consecration';
but the recital of those words never thought all that was necessary to
the consecration by any Church but the modern Church of Rome, and

f those that herein have followed her corrupt doctrine 179

§. 16. Concerning the mixture of wine and water in the eucharistic cup,
particularly expressed in the recital of the words of institution, accord
ing to the Clementine Liturgy . 193

§. 17. Concerning the oblation or form of offering the elements to God as
the representative body and blood of Christ, proved by bishop Hickes

and Mr. Johnson to be a necessary part of the institution 20(i

§. 18. Of the invocation for the descent of the Holy Ghost, to make the
elements the body and blood of Christ in power and effect ; this proved
necessary to the consecration : where it is also shewed, that the Greeks
in the Council of Florence insisted upon the necessity of this prayer,
notwithstanding the pretences of the Romanists to the contrary .. . ." . .' 221
§. 1 9. Of the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church, and particularly
of prayer for the saints departed. This proved to be agreeable to the
Scriptures and the uninterrupted practice of the Universal Church from

the Apostles' times to the Reformation 269

§. 20. Of the Lord's Prayer, which is not in the Clementine Liturgy',
neither is it taken notice of by any Ante-Nicene fathers as used in the
eucharistical service.— However, it is in all the other Liturgies, and I

propose not to enter into any dispute about the necessity of it 285

§. 21. Concerning the bidding form, which is only a recapitulation of what

has been already prayed for _ 288

§. 22. Of the prayer to God to make us acceptable communicants at his

holy table 29l

§. 23. Of the words holy things are for holy persons 293

§. 24. Of the words used at the distribution of the elements 294

§. 2.3. A recapitulation of the several parts of the Clementine Liturgy,
shewing them to be all agreeable to the Scriptures, and that it is the

standard and test by which all other Liturgies are to be tried 296

§. 26. Mr. Bingham, an unprejudiced writer, as to this controversy about
the mixed cup, &c. since he declares the judgment of the ancients in the
now controverted points to be contrary to his own practice, has since I
began this discourse published his sentiments of these disputed points,
as to the universal practice of the Primitive Church.— What he says
concerning the mixture.— To which I have added some reasons why the

mixture ought to be restored by the Church of England 300

§. 27. What Mr. Bingham says concerning the Fan or Fly-flap, the Sign of
the Cross, and the Eucharistic Prayer.— This Eucharistic Prayer restored

in the Communion Office lately published 30 i

§. 28. What he says of the immediate form of consecration.— That it does
not consist in the words, This is my body, This is my blood, only.— And
that it is a corrupt Romish doctrine to believe it consists only in the
recital of those words.— But that it consists in the history of the institu
tion, together with a prayer to God, that he will send his Holy Spirit upon
the gifts, and make them become the body and blood of Christ. — This petition

CONTENTS OF THE DISSERTATION.

PAGE.

cleared from the charge of favouring transubstantiation, of which it is
accused by a late author ,"," Vi" V -Yi V i 31°

. 29. He shews that the Primitive Church always prayed for the f

departed, when they administered the eucharist 31fc

30 Mr. Bingham lias plainly proved three of the things contended for,
that is, the mixed cup, the invocation of the descent of the Holy Spirit, and
prayers for the dead, to have been the universal practice of the Primitive
Church in the best and purest times.— But he has said nothing ot the
oblation -However the authorities produced by him upon other occa
sions plainly prove that as well as any of the other three.—,
calls prayer for the dead only a general practice, whereas his proofs
plainly prove it universal.— He also calls the doctrine of the intermediate
state betwixt death and the resurrection a particular opinion, whereas

it was certainly universal • • • • • 32s

<N 31 Mr Bingham again takes occasion to refute the Popish notion of the
" consecration's being made by a recital of the words of institution, from
a passage in the Roman Canon, or Canon of the Mass.— From whence
is shewed, that a consecrating prayer was always used in the Church
after pronouncing the words of institution: but it is not practised in
the Church of England.— However he has proved three of the points we
contend for to be the doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church;
but either the doctrine or the practice of the Romish Church is opposite
to all of them.— And he has cleared the Communion Office in the
Constitutions (called here the Clementine Liturgy) from the charge of
being interpolated, as Renaudotius says it is, and as Mr. Drake has also

renewed that charge from him ^ 1

$ 32 An account of the Liturgy here published under the name of St.
James.— Shewn to be the ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem.
—The interpolations in this Liturgy taken notice of and accounted for.
—Some of these interpolations are good, some bad.— The good interpo
lations or additions are the terms or words, mother of God, consubstantiat,
Trinity.— The bad are the high praises of the Virgin Mary, beyond what
is proper to give to any creature.— The dipping a piece of the conse
crated bread into the consecrated wine.— The giving the elements
together in a spoon, and the offering incense.— Thought proper to men
tion the incense here, though it be not in the Canon Missae of this

Liturgy 337

§. 33. St, Mark's Liturgy.— Of interpolations or additions made to it
Not worth while to take notice of such additions as the name of St.
Mark, the term Orthodox Kings, &c. which are introductive of no new
doctrines, nor tend to explain any old ones —Particular to this Liturgy,
to have the general intercession placed before the consecration.— I take
little notice of such interpolations in this or the following Liturgies, as
are before accounted for in the Liturgy, of St. James.— An account of
the Diptychs, of the deacon's calling to those that sit to stand up, and
to turn to the East, and of calling to the deacons to come down or return. 351
§. 34. St. Chrysostom's Liturgy very probably put in writing by that holy
father.— The interpolations made since his time.— The hot water.— An

account of the Asterisk, the Air, and the Orarium 355

§. 35. St. Basil's Liturgy, as used in the Church of Constantinople.— The
interpolations and corruptions here the same as in the Liturgy of St.

XX11 CONTENTS OF THE DISSERTATION.

Chrysostom.— The petition that God would hear us through the interces
sions of the saints departed, no corruption 357

§. 36. The Liturgy of St. Basil, used by the Church of Alexandria.— This
different from the former Liturgy which goes under the name of St.
Basil. — This which is still the Liturgy of the Coptites, has the fewest
interpolations of any other Eastern Liturgy. — Of the prayer at the
bowing of the head.— Of the priest's praying sometimes with a low
voice, sometimes with a loud voice.— A confession made by the people
in this Liturgy, just before they receive the elements, (but not published
with the Liturgy in this collection) though seemingly for the doctrine

of transubstantiation, yet is really not so 362

§. 37. The Ethiopic Liturgy.— The Ethiopians are subject to the Coptite
Patriarch of Alexandria, and their Liturgy is plainly taken from the
Liturgy of St. Mark.— The bread and cup are ordered to be given

distinct in this Liturgy it 375

§. 38. The Liturgy of Nestorius. — A short account of that Heretic, and
where his followers settled. — What is particular in this Liturgy is, that
the general intercession is put between the oblation and invocation. —

There is also one passage in favour of the Nestorian Heresy 377

§. 39. The Liturgy of Severus Patriarch of Antioch, a follower of Dioscorus,
and enemy to the Council of Chalcedon.— The only peculiarity in this
Liturgy is, that after the words of institution, the oblation is made to

Christ, and not God the Father 37$

§. 39. The Gothic, Gallican, and Mosarabic Liturgies. — We have only some
Fragments of these remaining. — So much of those Fragments are here
published, as are sufficient to shew that those Churches agreed with all

others in the points now controverted 3$0

§. 40. The Roman Canon of a later date than any of the preceding Litur
gies, and therefore of less authority, though for some ages it was used in
all the Churches of the \Vest — But the bishops in all parts, and in this
realm particularly, added prayers and rubrics to the Canon as they saw
expedient. --Pope Pius V. after the Council of Trent, ordered all to use
the Roman form, without any addition, as published by himself. — This
Missal less agreeable to the primitive standard than any of the foregoing
Liturgies. — Here is no eucharistic prayer for the creation and redemp
tion of the world. — The intercession is short and imperfect, and stands
out of place.— Mercy is desired not only through the intercession, which
has been justified, but through the merits of the saints, which cannot be
justified. — The prayer for God's acceptance improper before the oblation.
—No express desire that the Holy Ghost may bless and sanctify the
elements. — Transubstantiation and Purgatory not agreeable to some
passages in this Canon.— Of the Pax and the Kiss of Peace.— Of the
private prayers used by the priest before he communicates.— Of the
priest alone drinking of the cup.— The Rubrics in this Missal supersti
tious and idolatrous ^ 382

j. 41. The first Liturgy of King Edward VI. compiled by a Committee of
bishops and Divines in the second and third years of that King's reign,
being first authorized by the convocation, and when drawn up by the
Committee, confirmed by convocation and Parliament. — Very judici
ously performed, in which the defects in the Roman Canon till that
time used in this realm were supplied, and all corruptions cast out.—

CONTENTS OF THE DISSERTATION. XXiii

PAGE.

This Liturgy altered a year or two after, purely to please Calvin and
his followers, and a new one established in the room of it by Act of
Parliament only, without any authority of convocation. — The second
Communion Office, which is almost the same with that still continued
in the Common Prayer Book, by no means so agreeable to the primitive
standard as the former. — A particular account of the alterations made
in the second Communion Office 396

§. 42. The reason why some Bishops and Divines amongst the Non-jurors
thought it proper to compile a new Communion Office here also pub
lished. — What was my own practice some time before I quitted the
public Communion, and afterwards till this new Communion Office was
set forth. — How this Communion Office came to be drawn up. — That
those of the public Communion have as much reason to enquire into
these matters as the Non-jurors, some of their own Communion having
maintained the necessity at least of some of these things as well as the
Non-jurors. — The restoring primitive usages more likely to gain over
the Dissenters than the present form, which wants them. — By doing
what we have done, we have only followed the directions of Dr. Ham
mond in his Practical Catechism. — The testimonies of Justin Martyr,
Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenseus, and St. Cyprian, not insufficient to
prove the universality of the practice in their times to mix water with
the sacramental wine, as a late author has asserted them to be. — This
author, and not we, undervalues our evidence for the Canon of Scrip
ture. — The Liturgies all agree in the four points contended for, but
disagree in those things which are discovered to be corruptions. — Those
things wherein all Liturgies agree in sense, if not in words, are of
apostolical appointment : this asserted by Archbishop Wake. — In doing
what we have done, we have only put in practice the doctrine taught by
Dr. Hammond, Mr. Thorndike, Bishop Hickes, Archbishop Wake, Mr.
Johnson, Mr. Bingham, and other eminent Bishops and Divines of the
Church of England, and by the Church of England itself 404

§. 43. The method observed in this new Communion Office, — We departed
from nothing prescribed in the Communion Office of the Church of
England as now established, but in such things where we thought the
necessity or expediency to be apparent. — And the alterations made are
agreeable to the first reformed Liturgy of King Edward VI. or the most
.ancient Liturgies. — For being, as we thought, obliged to separate, by
being denied, what we conceived necessary, we judged ourselves also at
liberty to consider what was expedient, though we would not have
separated for matters of expedience only. The objection of our adver
saries, that the prayer of invocation used in this new Office favours
transubstantiation, shewn to have been lately produced by Mr. Spinckes
as a clear evidence against that doctrine. — This new Office as agreeable
to the ancient Liturgies, as it could be made without deviating more
from the Communion Office of the Church of England than appeared
either necessary or expedient. — Our making more alterations than at
first we declared we would be contented with, no argument of our
unsteadiness, nor gives any one a just reason to expect we may proceed
farther 422

§. 44. I desire those who are learned, would impartially examine the
Scriptures and fathers, and judge which has most fairly represented

xxjv CONTENTS OF THE DISSERTATION.

PAGE.

their sense in this controversy : for this is a matter of moment, wherein
all the members of the Church of England are concerned no less than
the Non-jurors. — Those that are unlearned are directed where they may
find eminent persons of the Church of England, that have clearly
declared themselves of our side in this controversy. — Why I appeal to
these as the most impartial judges. — First as to the necessity of obeying
apostolical traditions, and that such traditions as are attested by the
earliest fathers, and are found to have been universally practised by the
Catholic Church are apostolical, we are taught by Dr. Hammond, Mr,
Thorndike, and Bishop Taylor; who all died above fifty years before
this controversy was started 434

§. 45. In the next place we have the like testimony for all the points we
contend for, that they are apostolical, and may be proved by primitive
and universal tradition: as Bishop Hickes, Mr. Johnson, and Arch
bishop Wake, whose judgment may be esteemed impartial, because they
all wrote what I here quote from them before this controversy arose
amongst us : these give their testimony to the antiquity and universality
of all the four points. — There are others who have given their testimony,
some to one point, some to another. — Mr. Spinckes allows us the
testimony of Justin Martyr for the mixture, which our adversaries have
endeavoured by criticism to deprive us of.— Mr. Thorndike gives us his
testimony for the primitive and universal usage of the prayrng for the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon the bread and cup, and for prayers for
the dead. — Bishop Barrow also gave his dying testimony for prayers for
the dead.— And Mr. Bingham, as I before observed, has given very full
proof for three of the points we contend for 445

§. 46. A brief recapitulation of what I have endeavoured to prove in the
preceding discourse 456

PREFACE. IX

ye think ye have eternal life, and they testify of me.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas
by night into Berea : who coming thither, went into the
synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than
those of Thessalonica, in that they received the Word
with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.

In the first of these passages we find our Saviour
expostulating with the unbelieving Jews, who received
him not as the Messias, but sought to kill him, because
he had broken the sabbath, and said that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God. Ver. 18.
Whereupon, in defence of himself, and as a proof of
his being the person he pretended to be, he appeals to
what they had heard from John, (v. 33) to the miracles
which he wrought (v. 36.) to the witness which the
Father himself had borne of him, (v. 37.) and lastly, to
the Scriptures. Search these, says he, for ye take them
to be your guides to eternal happiness; therefore you
will not reject their testimony, and they testify of me.
And they must be the same Scriptures to which St.
Paul refers in the second passage, where he com
mends the Bereans for searching them, in order to
judge whether the doctrines he taught concerning our
Lord were true, for in them were several prophecies
of him, and the characteristics by which he might be
known at his appearance. We may easily guess what
Scriptures they were then, which our Saviour and St.
Paul appealed to, first because those of the Old Testa
ment were alone in being. And secondly, supposing
some parts of the New to have been wrote when St.

X PREFACE.

Paul was at Berea, I cannot think lie would have re
ferred the Jews to them for the truth of our Lord's
being the Messias, lest he should seem to beg the ques
tion, by offering a proof, the force of which depended
upon the truth of his assertion. For our Lord was not
the Messias and Saviour of the world, because his dis
ciples taught that he was ; but because he really was so,
they taught it ; and after the authority of the Lawgiver
was owned, they proceeded to teach his law. It may
suffice, that as in these just mentioned, so in all other
places of the New Testament, where we read any thing
concerning the Scriptures, those of the Old are meant ;
so that our author's cause will gain nothing from thence.
But if he still insists that they do speak up to his pur
pose, I must desire him to consider, that it must be at
the expence of their own authority ; for, as they speak
not of themselves, but of the Old Testament, that only
can be the rule which they prescribe ; and whatever
declares something besides itself to be the only rule,
must at the same time declare itself to be no rule. He
must therefore quit his pretensions to Scripture in this
case, or stand by these consequences if he appeals to it.*
But our author informs us, that he has been told before
that the Scripture produced by him in the dispute re
lated only to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. To
which he answers : And no wonder if that were all that
were referred to before the New Testament was written ;
but this is no evidence that the whole Canon of Scripture
was not more to be depended upon when it was once com
pleted and settled. Here I must own I am at a loss to

* No«Just Grounds, &c. p. 15.

PREFACE. XI

find out what this learned author means; for in the
foregoing paragraph he tells us, " that the answer had
brought a good number of authorities both from Scrip
ture and Tradition, to prove the Scripture to be the
only Christian rule left by our Saviour for the direction
of his disciples." But the Scripture brought by him to
prove it, he owns, refers only to the Old Testament ;
and yet, says he, this is no evidence that the whole
Canon of Scripture (where I suppose he understands
both the Old and New Testament) was not more to be
depended upon, when it was once completed and settled.
If this objection be no evidence that it was not more to
be depended upon, I suppose he thinks the Scripture pro
duced by it an evidence that is more to be depended
upon. And then his argument will run thus : The
authorities brought from Scripture, to prove the Scrip
ture to be the only Christian rule left by our Saviour
for a direction to his disciples, refer only to the Old
Testament. And therefore are evidences that the whole
Canon of Scripture (viz. the Old and New Testament)
was more to be depended upon, when it was once com
pleted and settled. So that something, in this gentle
man's opinion, was more to be depended upon, than
what he was able to prove our Saviour left his disciples
as the only rule for their direction, which something was
not completed and settled when he left them. I must
leave the reader to reconcile these things, it being, I
confess, past my skill to do it.

In the next place, our author proceeds to give us his
authorities from the fathers, from whence he might have
learnt how vain his pretensions to the Scripture he has

Xll PREFACE.

produced were in the present case. For if the fathers,
as he conceives they did, wrote those passages in defence
of the opinion he maintains, they would not probably
have failed to argue as this gentleman does from Scrip
ture, if that were to their purpose. But that they have
not done, and therefore he can claim no advantage from
them, he having declared * that he could never learn
that bare tradition was sufficient of itself to make any
thing a necessary indispensible duty, that has no foun
dation at all in Scripture. The use of tradition being,
as he is a little afterwards adds, to confirm what is de
livered in Scripture, though not so fully and clearly
as some other doctrines are. But this gentleman's doc
trine having no foundation in the Scriptures, cannot
be confirmed by them. And therefore he must either
give it up, or acknowledge that he does receive it barely
upon tradition.

The reader will meet with his collections from the
fathers in the 6th. and following pages of " No Sufficient
Reason," &c., part I., which I desire him to compare
with passages from most of the same fathers in p. 156.,
&c. of a book entitled, "The necessity of an alteration,"
&c., by which lie will perceive, that so much is not to
be concluded from the former, as that author does con
clude from them. But supposing them to speak home
to his purpose, these same fathers, especially the earliest
of them, speak as fully for one or more of the four usages
contended for by us : all communicated with those
Churches which used them all, they being in those
early ages universally received, as will appear by the

* No Sufficient Reason, part 1. p. 3.

PREFACE. Xlll

following sheets. So that if the fathers did believe
Scripture to he the only rule prescribed for their direc
tion, they must likewise believe those usages to be
enjoined by it. And, therefore, as the same testimony
must be of the same credit in one case as in another,
our author must reject his own hypothesis, or receive
with us the controverted usages.

2dly. The other proposition is :

Tradition is not prescribed by our Lord to Ms disci
ples, as the rule they are to walk by.

Now if our author means, (as he must do, if Scripture
is prescribed as the only rule) that our Lord excluded
tradition from being any part of the rule, I must beg
leave to dissent from him : and for this reason, because
I am persuaded the Apostles would not so soon have
forgotten it, as I find they did : for,

1st. St. Paul commands the Corinthians, to keepdhe
ordinances as he delivered them unto them. 1 Cor. xi. 2.
To evade this, our learned author has recourse to criti
cism, and tells us, " That it is to be remembered, that
the word TrapadovetQ (which is here translated ordinances)
denotes doctrines, and may be applied to such as are
either written or unwritten."* I shall not dispute his
criticism ; but let us see what he concludes from it.
" So that nothing more," says he, " can be meant by
tradition in these places (i. e. the places quoted by him
for the support of his criticism) but the doctrines the
Apostles had taught the Christians, whether by writing
or word of mouth. And if no more be intended by the
ordinances here refered to, I know no occasion there is

* No Sufficient Reason, part 1. p. 23.

XIV PREFACE.

for any dispute about them." Nor do I know any
occasion for dispute, if so much be intended by them.
For if the Apostles taught some doctrines by word of
mouth, that is, by tradition, which they did not commit
to writing, as this gentleman owns ; I shall conclude
that our Lord did not exclude tradition from being a
part of the rule which Christians were to walk by. I
am moreover of opinion, that all our Lord's ordinances
were founded upon doctrines, and therefore might be
handed down to us by the same conveyance as some
doctrines are. The same may be said,

2dly. Of the exhortation the Apostle gives to the
Thessalonians : — Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and
hold the traditions you have been taught, whether by
word, or by our epistle. 2Thess. ii. 15. And,

3dly. The things that thou hast heard of me among
many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men,
who shall be able to teach others also. 2 Tim. ii. 11.
Whatever these things were which Timothy had heard
from St. Paul, it is plain they were to be taught to suc
ceeding generations ; and I suppose this gentleman will
not deny, but that those who learnt them from the
faithful men to whom Timothy committed them, were as
much obliged to the observance of them, as Timothy
was who had heard them from St. Paul.

But lastly. If tradition is excluded by our Lord from
being any part of the rule Christians are to walk by, all
Scripture written barely upon a traditionary account of
things must likewise be excluded from being a part of
that rule; consequently St. Luke's gospel can be no

PREFACE. XV

part of it, because he declares he received what he there
wrote from others : chap. i. 2.

So I shall leave the reader to choose, whether he will
take part with this gentleman in the support of his
assertion, or with St. Luke for the authority of his
gospel.

THE

CLEMENTINE LITURGY,

AS IT STANDS IN THE BOOK CALLED THE APOSTOLICAL
CONSTITUTIONS, BOOK VIII. CHAP. 12.

The Deacon shall say,

LET none of the Catechumens, none of the hearers, none of the
unbelievers, none of the heterodox stay. You who have prayed the
former prayer, depart. Mothers, take up your children. Let no
one have ought against any man. Let us stand upright, to
present unto the Lord our offerings with fear and trembling.

1[ When this is done, let the deacons bring the gifts to the
bishop at the altar ; and let the priests stand on his right
handy and on his left, as disciples by their Masler. But let
two of the deacons on each side of the altar hold a fan made
up of thin membranes, or peacock's feathers, or fine cloth;
and let them silently drive away flies and gnats, that they
may not fall into the cups. Then the bishop, offer having
prayed secretly, (and likewise the priests} and having put
on his splendid vestment, and standing at the altar, and
signing himself with the sign of the cross upon his forehead,
let him say,

The grace of Almighty God, and the love of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all.
And let all with one voice say,

And with thy Spirit.
Bishop. Lift up your mind.
People. We lift it up unto the Lord.
Bishop. Let us give thanks to the Lord.
People. It is meet and right so to do.
B

2 THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY.

Bishop. It is indeed meet and right to sing praises to thee,
the true God, from everlasting, of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named ; who alone art unbegotten, without
beginning, the supreme Lord, Almighty King, and self-sufficient ;
the author and giver of all good things, without cause, without
generation, self-existing; the same yesterday, to day, and for
ever. At thy word, as from a necessary original, all things
started into being. For thou art everlasting knowledge, sight
before all objects, hearing before all sounds, wisdom without
instruction ; the first in nature, the fountain of being, the eternal
one, exceeding all number, incomprehensible. Thou createdstall
things out of nothing by thine only begotten Son, begotten before
all ages by no other means than thy will, thy power, and thy
goodness ; God the Word, the living wisdom, the first-born of
every creature, the angel of thy great counsel, thy high priest,
but the Lord and King of all sensible and intellectual creatures,
who was before all things, and by whom all things were made.
Thou, O eternal God, didst make all things by him, and by him
too dispensest thy providence over them ; for by the same that
thou broughtest all things into being, by him thou continuest all
things in well being. The God, and Father of thine only begot
ten Son ; who by him didst make first the cherubim and seraphim,
the ages, and all the heavenly hosts, the principalities and powers,
thrones and dominions, angels and archangels, and after these
didst by him create this visible world, and all things which are
therein. For it is thou who hast fixed the heaven like an arch,
and stretched it out like the covering of a tent ; who hast laid
the foundation of the earth, which resteth upon nothing but thy
will ; who hast established the firmament, and prepared the night
and the day, bringing light out of thy treasures, and darkness to
overshadow it, that under its covert the living creatures of this
world might take their repose. Thou hast appointed the sun to
rule the day, and the moon to govern the night ; and moreover,
hast imprinted in the heavens a choir of stars for the honour of
thy glorious Majesty. Thou hast made water for drink, and for
cleansing, the vital air for respiration, and conveyance of sounds
by the tongue's striking of it, and the hearing which co-operates
with it, so as to perceive the voice when it is received by it, and
falls upon it. Thou madest fire for our consolation in darkness,
and for the relief of our necessities, that we might be both warmed

THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY 3

and enlightened by it. Thou didst divide the sea from the land,
making the one navigable, and the other a basis for our feet in
walking ; the former thou hast replenished with small and great
beasts, the latter too both with tame and wild ; and hast moreover
furnished it with various plants, crowned it with herbs, beautified
it with flowers, and enriched it with seeds. Thou hast collected
together the great deep, and cast a mound about it ; seas of salt
waters stand as an heap bounded on every side with barriers of
sand ; sometimes thou dost swell it by the wind, so as to equal
the high mountains, and sometimes smooth it into a plain ; now
making it rage with a tempest, then stilling it with a calm, for
the ease of mariners in their voyages. The earth, which was
made by thee through Christ, thou hast encompassed with rivers,
watered with currents, and moistened with springs which never
fail ; thou hast girt it about with mountains, that it may not be
moved at any time ; thou hast replenished and adorned it with
fragrant and medicinal herbs, with many and various kinds of
living creatures, strong and weak, for food and for labour, tame
and wild ; with the dull harsh noises of those creatures which
move upon the earth, and the soft sprightly notes of the gaudy
many coloured birds which wing the air ; with the revolution of
years, the number of months and days, the regular succession of
the seasons ; with the courses of the clouds big with rain, for the
production of fruits, the support of living creatures ; where also
the winds take their stand, which blow at thy command, and for
the refreshment of trees and plants. And thou hast not only
created the world, but man likewise the citizen of it ; manifesting
in him the beauty and excellency of that beautiful and excellent
creation. For thou saidst to thine own Wisdom, Let us make
man in our own image, and after our likeness, and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air.
Wherefore thou madest him of an immortal soul, and mortal body,
the soul out of nothing, the body out of the four elements ; this
endued with five senses, and a power of motion ; that with reason,
and a faculty of distinguishing between religion and irreligion,
just and unjust. Thou, O Almighty God, didst also by thy Christ,
plant a garden eastward in Eden, adorned with every plant that
was fit for food ; into this thou didst put him, a rich and magni
ficent habitation ; having given him a law in his nature, and
such powers that without the assistance of other means, even in

THE CLEMENTINE LITL'KGV.

himself he might have the principles of divine knowledge. And
when thou didst put him into this Paradise of pleasure, thou
gavest him the privilege of enjoying all its delights, with this
only exception, that he should not out of vain curiosity in hopes
of bettering his condition, taste of one tree, and immortality was
to be the reward of his obedience to this command ; but when he
had broken through it, and eaten of the forbidden fruit, over
reached by the subtilty of the serpent, and the counsel of the
woman, thou didst justly drive him out of Paradise ; but in thy
goodness didst not despise him, nor suffer him utterly to perish ;
for he was the work of thine own hands : but thou gavest him
dominion over all things, and by his labour, and the sweat of his
face, to procure his food, thy providence co-operating with him,
so as to make the fruits of the earth to spring up, increase, and
ripen. And having subjected him for a while to a temporary
death, tfiou didst bind thyself by an oath to restore him to life
again ; loosing the bands of that death, by the promise of a resur
rection to the life which is eternal. Nor was this all ; but thou
didst likewise multiply his posterity without number, glorifying
as many of them as were obedient unto thee, and punishing those
who rebelled against ihee. Thou didst accept the sacrifice of
Abel upon account oi'his righteousness, and reject the offering of
Cain who slew his brother, because of his unworthiness. And
besides these, thou didst receive Seth and Enos, and translate
Enoch. For thou art the creator of men, the author of life, the
supplier of our wants, the giver of laws, the rewarder of those
who keep thejn, and the avenger of those who transgress them.
Who didst bring a flood upon the world because of the multitude
of the ungodly, but didst deliver righteous Noah from it with
eight souls in the ark, the last of the foregoing, and the first of
the succeeding generations. Who didst kindle a dreadful fire in
the five cities of Sodom, and turn a fruitful laud into a salt lake
for the wickedness of them that dwelt therein ; but didst snatch
holy Lot out of the conflagration. Thou art he, who didst pre
serve Abraham from the idolatry of his forefathers, and appoint
him the heir of the world, manifesting unto him thy Christ. Who
didst ordain Melchisedeck an high priest for thy worship. Who
didst approve thy servant Job by his patience and long suffering,
the conqueror of that serpent, who is the author and promoter of
all wickedness. Who madest Isaac the son of the promise, and

THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY. O

Jacob the father of twelve sons, whom thou didst multiply exceed
ingly, bringing him into Egypt with seventy-five souls. Thou, O
Lord, didst not overlook Joseph, but gavest him as the reward of
his chastity for thy sake, the government over the Egyptians.
Neither didst thou, O Lord, overlook the Hebrews when in
bondage under the Egyptians, but according to thy promises made
to their fathers, thou didst deliver them, and punish the Egyptians.
And when men had corrupted the law of nature, and esteemed
the creation, sometimes the effect of chance, and sometimes to be
worthy of honour equal to thine, who art the God of all, thou
didst not suffer them to wander in error ; but didst raise up thy
holy servant Moses, and by him give a written law to strengthen
the law of nature, and shew the creation to be thy work, and that
there were no other Gods besides thee. Thou didst adorn Aaron
and his posterity with the honour of the priesthood. Thou didst
punish the Hebrews when they sinned, and receive them again
when they returned to thee. Thou didst torment the Egyptians
with ten plagues, and divide the sea for the Israelites to pass
through, overwhelming the Egyptians in their pursuit after them
with the waves thereof. Thou didst sweeten the bitter water
with wood, and bring water out of the rock of stone. Thou didst
rain manna from heaven, and quails out of the air for food. Thou
madest a pillar of fire to give them light in the night, and a pillar
of a cloud to shadow them from the heat in the day. Thou didst
raise up Joshua to be general of their armies, and by him destroy
seven nations of the Canaanites. Thou didst divide Jordan, and
dry up the rivers of Etham. Thou didst overthrow walls without
battering rams, or any assistance of human force. For all these
things, glory be to thee, O Lord Almighty ; thee the innumerable
hosts of angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities,
authorities, powers, thine everlasting armies adore. The cherubim
and seraphim with six wings, with twain they cover their feet,
with twain their heads, and with twain they fly, and say, together
with thousand thousands of archangels, and ten thousand times
ten thousand of angels, crying incessantly with uninterrupted
shouts of praise ; and let all the people say with them,

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are
lull of his glory. Blessed be he for evermore. Amen.

6 THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY.

After this, let the Bishop say,

THOU art indeed holy, and most holy ; the highest, and most
highly exalted for ever. Holy is also thine only begotten Son
Jesus Christ, our Lord and God. Who always ministering to
thee his God and Father, not only in the various works of the
creation, but in the providential care of it, did not overlook lost
mankind. But after the law of nature, the admonitions of the
positive law, the prophetical reproofs, and the superintendency of
angels, when men had perverted both the positive and natural
law, and had forgotten the flood, the burning of Sodom, the
plagues of the Egyptians, the slaughter of the Philistines, and
were now ready to perish universally ; he, who was man's Creator,
was pleased with thy consent to become man ; the priest to be
himself the sacrifice ; the shepherd a sheep, to appease thee his
God and Father, to reconcile thee to the world, and deliver all
men from the impending wrath. He was incarnate of a virgin,
God the Word, the beloved Son, the first-born of every creature;
and, as he himself had foretold by the mouth of the prophets, of
the seed of David, and of Abraham, and of the tribe of Juda.
He, who forms all that are born in the world, was himself formed
in the womb of a virgin, became flesh ; and he who was begotten
from eternity, was born in time. He was holy in his conversation,
and taught according to the law ; he cured diseases, and wrrought
signs and wonders amongst the people ; he who is the feeder of
the hungry, and fills every living creature with his goodness,
became partaker of his own gifts, and eat, and drank, and slept
amongst us ; he manifested thy name to them that knew it not ;
he dispelled the cloud of ignorance, restored piety, fulfilled thy
will, and finished thy work which thou gavest him to do. And
when he had regulated all these things, he was seized by the
hands of a disobedient people, and wicked men abusing the office
of priests and highpriests, being betrayed to them by one who
excelled in wickedness ; and when he had suffered many things
from them, and been treated with all manner of indignity, he was
by thy permission delivered to Pilate the governor; the judge of
all the world was judged, and the Saviour of mankind condemned ;
although impassible, he was nailed to the cross ; and although
immortal, died. The giver of life was laid in the grave, that he

THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY. 7

might deliver those from the pains of death, for whose sake he
came ; and that he might hreak the bands of the devil, and rescue
mankind from his deceit. He arose from the dead the third day ;
and after continuing forty days with his disciples, he was taken
up into heaven, and is set down on the right hand of thee his God
and Father.

Calling therefore to remembrance those things which he en
dured for our sakes, we give thanks unto thee, O God Almighty,
not as we ought, but as we are able, to fulfil his institution.
For in the same night that he was betrayed, taking bread into his
holy and immaculate hands, and looking up to thee his God and
Father, and breaking it, he gave it to his disciples, saying ; This
is the mystery of the New Testament ; take of it ; eat ; this is
my body, which is broken for many for the remission of sins.
Likewise also having mingled the cup with wine and water, and
blessed it, he gave it to them, saying : This is my blood, which
is shed for many for the remission of sins ; do this in remembrance
of me; for as often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup,
ye do shew forth my death till I come.

Wherefore having in remembrance his passion, death, and
resurrection from the dead, his return into heaven, and his future
second appearance, when he shall come with glory and power to
judge the quick and dead, and to render to every man accord
ing to his works; we offer to thee our King and our God,
according to this institution, this bread and this cup ; giving
thanks to thee through him, that thou hast thought us worthy to
stand before thee, and to sacrifice unto thee. And we beseech
thee, that thou wilt look graciously on these gifts now lying
before thee, O thou self- sufficient God ; and accept them to the
honour of thy Christ. And send down thy Holy Spirit, the wit
ness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, on this sacrifice, that he
may make this bread the body of thy Christ, and this cup the
blood of thy Christ. That all who shall partake of it, may be
confirmed in godliness, may receive remission of their sins, may
be delivered from the devil and his wiles, may be filled with the
Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of thy Christ, and may obtain
everlasting life; thou, O Lord Almighty, being reconciled to
them.

We farther pray unto thee, O Lord, for thy holy church, spread
from one end of the world unto the other, which thou hast pur-

8 THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY.

chased by the precious blood of thy Christ, that thou will keep
it stedfast and immoveable unto the end of the world ; and for
every episcopate rightly dividing the word of truth. Farther we
call upon thee for my unworthiness, who am now offering ; and
for the whole presbytery ; for the deacons, and all the clergy ;
that thou wouldst endue them with wisdom, and fill them witli
the Holy Ghost. Farther we call upon thee, O Lord, for the
king and all that are in authority, for the success of the army,
that they may be kindly disposed towards us ; that leading our
whole life in peace and quietness, we may glorify thee through
Jesus Christ our hope. Farther we offer to thee for all the saints,
who have pleased thee from the beginning of the world; the pa
triarchs, prophets, righteous men, apostles, martyrs, confessors,
bishops, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, virgins,
widows, laymen, and all whose names thou knowest. We far
ther offer to thee for this people ; that for the glory of thy Christ
thou wilt render them a royal priesthood, an holy nation ; for the
virgins, and all that live chastely ; for the widows of the church ;
for those that live in honourable marriage, and child bearing ; for
the young ones among thy people ; that thou wilt not permit any
of us to become cast-aways. Farther we pray unto thee for this
city, and the inhabitants thereof; for the sick; for those that are
in slavery ; for those that are in banishment ; for those that are
in prison ; for those that travel by land or by water ; that thou
wilt be to all of them an helper, strengthener, and supporter.

We farther beseech thee also for those who hate us, and perse
cute us for thy name's sake; for those that are without, and
wander in error ; that thou wouldst convert them to that which
is good, and appease their wrath against us. Farther we pray
unto thee for the catechumens of the church ; for those who are
under possession, and for those our brethren who are in the state
of penance: that thou wilt perfect the first in thy faith, deliver
the second from the power of the wicked one, accept the repent
ance of the last, and grant unto them and to us the remission
of our sins. Farther we offer unto thee for seasonable weather,
and that we may have plenty of the fruits of the earth ; that re
ceiving the abundance of thy good things, we may incessantly
praise thee who givest food to all flesh. Farther we pray unto
thee for all those who are absent upon a just cause; that thou
wilt preserve all of us in godliness, and gather us together in the

THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY. 9

kingdom of thy Christ our king, the God of every sensible and
intelligent being. And that thou wilt keep us stedfast, unblam
able and unreprovable. For to thee is due all glory, adoration,
and thanksgiving, honour and worship to the Father, and to the
Holy Ghost, both now and ever, and world without end.

If And let all the people say, Amen,

IF And let the Bishop say, The peace of God be with you all.

IF And let all the people say, And with thy Spirit.

IF And let the Deacon again proclaim,

LET us farther pray to God through his Christ, in behalf of the
gift that is offered to the Lord God j that the good God will
receive it through the mediation of his Christ at his heavenly
altar for a sweet-smelling savour. Let us pray for this church
and people. Let us pray for every episcopate, for the whole
presbytery, for all the deacons and ministers in Christ, for the
whole congregation; that the Lord will preserve and keep them all.
Let us pray for kings and all that are in authority, that they may
be peaceable towards us ; so that enjoying a quiet and peaceable
life, we may spend our days in all godliness and honesty. Let
us commemorate the holy martyrs, that we may be deemed worthy
to be partakers of their trial. Let us pray for all those who have
died in the faith. Let us pray for the good condition of the air,
and the ripening of the fruits. Let us pray for those that are
newly baptized, that they may be confirmed in the faith, that all
may be mutually comforted by one another. Raise us up, O God,
by thy grace ; and being raised up, let us devote ourselves to God
through Jesus Christ.

^T And let the Bishop say,

O GOD who art great, great in name and counsel, powerful in
thy works, the God and Father of thy holy Son Jesus Christ our
Saviour, look upon us and upon this thy flock, which thou hast
chosen through him to the glory of thy name ; sanctify us in body
and soul ; and grant that we being purified from all filthiness of
flesh and spirit, may partake of the mystic blessings now lying
before thee, and judge none of us unworthy of them, but be thou
our supporter, our helper, and defender, through thy Christ, with
whom glory, honour, laud, praise, and thanksgiving be to thee
and the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
c

10 THE CLEMENTINE LITURGY.

IF And after all have said. Amen, let the Deacon say,

Let us attend
^[ And the Bishop shall speak aloud to the people in this manner •

Holy things are for holy persons.

And let the people answer : There is one Holy, one Lord, one
Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father, blessed for evermore.
Amen. Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will towards men. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed
be he that corneth in the name of the Lord ; he is our God and
Lord, and hath appeared to us. Hosanna in the highest.

5F After this, let the bishop receive, then the presbyters, and
deacons, and subdeacons, and readers, and singers, and
asceticks, and of the women the deaconesses, virgins, and
widows. Afterwards the children, and then all the people
in order, with fear and reverence, without tumult or noise.
And the bishop shall give the oblation, saying,

The body of Christ.

IF And let him that receives say, Amen.

IF And the deacon shall hold the c^tp, and when he gives it, let
him say,

The blood of Christ, the cup of life.
^F And let him that drinks say, Amen.

THE

LITURGY OF ST. JAMES,

WHICH WAS ANCIENTLY USED IN THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM,
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

Translated from the original Greek, as published in the Bibliotheca Patrum,
Tom. 2. Paris 1624.

Priest. LET us lift up our minds and hearts.

People. It is meet and right so to do.

Then the Priest prays.

IT is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should
praise and bless, worship, glorify, and give thanks to thee, the
maker of all visible and invisible beings, the treasure of eternal
happiness, the fountain of life and immortality, the God and
governor of the universe. To whom the heavens sing praise, and
all their powers ; the sun and moon, and the whole choir of stars ;
the earth and sea, and all their inhabitants ; Jerusalem the
heavenly assembly and church of the firstborn that are written in
heaven ; the spirits of just men and prophets ; the souls of
martyrs and apostles, angels, and archangels, thrones, dominions,
principalities, authorities, and tremendous powers ; the many-eyed
seraphim with six wings, who with twain cover their faces, and
with twain their feet, and with twain they fly, crying incessantly
one to another, and with uninterrupted shouts of praise.

THE EXCLAMATION.

Saying with a loud voice the triumphal hymn to thine exalted
glory, shouting, glorifying, crying aloud, and saying :

People. Hoty, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth ; heaven and
earth are full of thy glory : hosanna in the highest : blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord ; hosanna in the highest.

12 ST. JAMES'S LITURGY.

The Priest signing the Gifts, says.

HOLY art thou, O eternal King, the Lord and Giver of all holi
ness ; holy is thine only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom thou hast made the worlds ; holy is thy Holy Spirit, who
searcheth all things, even the deep mysteries of thy godhead.
Holy art thou, who alone art Almighty, a God of goodness, ter
ror, and compassion, remarkably indulgent to the work of thine
own hands. Thou formedst man out of the earth to thine own
image and similitude, and gavest him the pleasures and satisfac
tion of Paradise. And when he had lost his happiness by trans
gressing thy commandment, thou of thy goodness did not abandon
and despise him, but correctedst him in mercy as a father, re-
calledst him by the law, and instructedst him by the prophets ;
and last of all didst send thine only begotten Son our Lord Jesus
Christ into the world, for the renovation and revival of thy lost
image. Who came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and mother of God, conversed
with mankind, and directed all his dispensations to our salvation;
and when the hour was come, that he, who had no sin, was to
suffer a voluntary and life-giving death upon the cross for us sin
ners; in the same night that he was offered, or rather offered
up himself for the life and salvation of the world,

Then the Priest taking the Bread into his hands :

Taking bread into his holy, immaculate, pure, and immortal
hands, looking up to heaven, and presenting it to thee his God
and Father, he gave thanks, sanctified, and brake it, and gave it
to his disciples and apostles, saying,

The Deacons say, For the remission of sins, and for everlasting
life.

Then he says with a loud voice, Take, eat, this is my body,
which is broken and given for you for the remission of sins.

The People. Amen.

Then he takes the cup and says,

Likewise after supper he took the cup and mixed it with wine
and water, and looking up to heaven, and presenting it to thee
his God and Father, he gave thanks, sanctified and blessed it,
and filled it with the Holy Ghost, and gave it to his disciples,
saying, Drink ye all of this ; . This is my blood of the New Testa-

ST. JAMES'S LITURGY. 13

ment, which is shed and given for you and for many, for the
remission of sins.

The People. Amen.

The Priest. Do this in remembrance of me : for as oft as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the death of
the Son of man, and confess his resurrection until his coining
again.

People. O Lord, we shew forth thy death, and confess thy
resurrection.

The Priest. Wherefore having in remembrance his life-giving
passion, salutary cross, death, burial, and resurrection on the
third day from the dead ; his ascension into heaven, and sitting
at the right hand of thee his God and Father ; and his second
bright and terrible appearance, when he shall come with glory to
judge the living and the dead, and shall render to every man
according to his works ; we sinners offer to thee, O Lord, this
tremendous and unbloody sacrifice, beseeching thee not to deal
with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities ;
but according to thy clemency and ineffable love to mankind,
overlook and blot out the handwriting that is against us thy
servants, and grant us thine heavenly and eternal rewards, such
as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart
of man, even such as thou hast prepared for them that love thee ;
and reject not this people for me and my sins, O Lord.
Then he says three times,

For this people and thy church make their supplication before
thee.

People. Have mercy upon us, O Lord God, Almighty Father.
The Priest says again,

Have mercy upon us, O God, the Almighty. Have mercy
upon us, O God our Saviour. Have mercy upon us, O God,
according to thy great mercy, and send down upon these gifts,
which are here set before thee, thy most Holy Spirit.
Then bowing down his head, he says,

Even the Lord and giver of life, who with thee, O God the
Father, and with thine only begotten Son, liveth and reigneth a
consubstantial and co-eternal person ; who spake by the law, by
the prophets, and by the new testament ; descended in the form
of a dove upon our Lord Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, and
rested upon him ; and came down in the shape of fiery tongues

14 ST. JAMES'S LITURGY.

upon thy apostles, when they were assembled on the day of Pen
tecost, in the upper room of holy and glorious Sion. Send down,
O Lord, this thy most Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these holy
gifts here set before thee.

And raising himself up, he says with a loud voice; ,
That by his holy, good, and glorious presence, he may sanctify
and make this bread the holy body of thy Christ.

People. Amen.

Priest. And this cup the precious blood of thy Christ.

People. Amen.

The Priest standing by himself.

That all, who are partakers thereof, may obtain remission of
their sins and eternal life, may be sanctified in soul and body,
and bring forth the fruit of good works ; for the confirmation of
thy holy catholic and apostolic church, which thou hast found
ed upon the rock of faith, that the gates of hell may not prevail
against it. Delivering it from all heresy and scandal, and from
the workers of iniquity, preserving it to the consummation of the
world.

And bowing, he says : We offer also to thee, 0 Lord, for thy
holy places which thou hast glorified with the divine presence of
thy Christ, and the appearance of thy most Holy Spirit ; but
chiefly for glorious Sion, the mother of all churches, and for thy
holy catholic and apostolic church dispersed throughout the
world. Give her even now, O Lord, a large portion of thy Holy
Spirit. Remember our holy fathers and brethren in the same,
and all bishops wheresoever dispersed, that rightly dispense the
word of thy truth. Remember, O Lord, every city and country,
and their inhabitants, who are of the number of the faithful, and
preserve them in peace and security. Remember, O Lord, all
that travel by land or by water ; our Christian fathers and brethren
that are in chains and imprisonment, in captivity and banishment,
that are condemned to the mines, and live in misery and servitude,
Remember, O Lord, all sick persons, and such as are vexed with
unclean spirits, and make haste to heal and deliver them.
Remember, O Lord, every chrisiian soul under affliction and
calamity, imploring thy divine mercy and assistance. And forget
not the conversion of those who are in error. Remember, O
Lord, for thy name's sake, our fathers and brethren, who of their
own labours minister to our necessities. Remember us all, O

ST. JAMES'S LITURGY. 15

Lord God. Have mercy upon us, and be reconciled to us.
Give thy peace to all thy people Remove all occasions of sin.
Put an end to our wars. Stop the violence of heresies. Grant
us thy peace and love, O God our Saviour, the hope of all the
ends of the earth. Forget not, O Lord, to bless us with temperate
seasons, with moderate showers and a fruitful harvest, and to
crown the year with thy goodness. For the eyes of all hope in
thee, and thou givest them food in due season. Thou openest
thy hand, and fillest all things with good. Remember, O Lord,
all those who work righteousness, and are benefactors to thy holy
churches, who consider the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and
the stranger, and such as are in necessity ; and all who desire to
be remembered in our prayers. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to remember
those who have this day offered these oblations at thine holy altar,
and those for whom they have offered or have designed to offer
them, all before commemorated. Remember me also, O Lord,
thy unworthy and unprofitable servant, according to the multitude
of thy mercies and compassions, and the deacons that compass
thine holy altar. Endue them with purity of life, and preserve
their ministry unreprovable, and purchase them a good degree,
that we may find mercy and favour with all thy saints, who from
the beginning of the world have pleased thee in their generations,
even with our fathers and fore-fathers ; with the patriarchs and
prophets ; apostles, martyrs and confessors ; teachers and saints ;
and every just spirit departed in the faith of thy Christ.

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb ; for of
thee was born the Saviour of our souls.

Then the Priest says with a loud voice.

But chiefly of our most holy, immaculate, superlatively blessed
and glorious lady, the mother of God, and ever virgin Mary.

The Singers. It is meet that we should truly magnify thee,
the ever-blessed immaculate parent and mother of our God, who
art of more honour than the cherubim, and incomparably more
glorious than the seraphim. Thee we extol, who broughtest forth
the Divine Logos without corruption, and art truly the parent of
God.

And again they sing ; Thou, O full of grace, art the joy of the
whole creation, both of angels and men, a temple of holiness, a
spiritual paradise, and the glory of virginity ; of whom the Deity

16 ST. JAMES'S LITURGY.

was incarnate ; and our God, whose being is from eternity, was
made a child. For thy womb was his throne, the seat of him
whom the heavens contain. Thou, O full of grace, art the joy
of the universe, praise be to thee.

The Deacons. Remember, O Lord, our God.
The Priest bowing, says ; Remember, O Lord, the God of
spirits and of all flesh, the faithful whom we have commemorated,
or whom we have not mentioned, from just Abel unto this day.
Make them to rest in the region of the living in thy kingdom, in
the delights of Paradise, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, our holy fathers ; where there is no sorrow, grief, and
lamentation ; and where the light of thy countenance continually
shines upon them ; and as for us, O Lord, let Christian peace,
thy favour and the strictest virtue accompany our last periods.
Gather us to the number of thine elect at what time and in what
manner thou pleasest ; only let us be faultless and without re
proach, through thine only begotten Son, our Lord God and
Saviour Jesus Christ: for he alone appeared without sin upon
the earth.

The Deacon. We offer also for the peace and tranquillity of
the whole world, and of thy holy churches, O God, and for those
for whom the oblation has any where been made, or designed
for the people that stand round thine altar, and for all men and
women.

The People. And for all men and women.

The Priest says with a loud voice : Spare both us and them,
according to thy goodness and love to mankind.

People. Release, pardon and forgive, O God, all our voluntary
and involuntary sins, such as we have committed in action and
in word, knowingly and ignorantly, by night and by day, in
mind and thought, forgive us all in goodness and love.

Priest. By the grace, mercy and compassion of thine only
begotten Son, good and life-giving Spirit, thou art blessed and
glorified now and for ever.

People. Amen.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

People. And with thy Spirit.

The Deacon. Let us incessantly and for ever pray to the Lord
in peace. Let us pray to our Lord God for the holy, precious?

17

supercelestial, ineffable, immaculate, glorious, tremendous, and
divine oblation.

Let us pray, that our Lord God would receive it upon his holy?
supercelestial, spiritual, and intellectual altar for a sweet-smelling
savour, and send down the divine grace, and the gift of his Holy
Spirit upon us.

Let us pray for the unity of the faith, and the communion of
his most holy, adorable Spirit, commending one another, and our
whole life to Christ our God.

People. Amen.

The Priest prays.

O GOD, the Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
great in name, happy in nature, and infinite in goodness, the God
and governor of all things, who art blessed to eternal ages, that
sittest upon the cherubim, and art glorified by the seraphim, upon
whom attend thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times ten
thousands of angels, and multitudes of archangels; thou hast
received the gifts, oblations and sacrifices offered to thee for a
sweet-smelling savour, and out of thy goodness hast vouchsafed
to sanctify and consecrate them by the grace of thy Christ, and
the descent of the most Holy Spirit. Sanctify also, O Lord, our
souls, bodies, and spirits ; examine our minds, and search our
consciences ; take from us all evil imaginations, all impurity of
thought, all inclinations to lust, all deformity of conception ; all
envy, pride, and hypocrisy ; all falsehood, deceit, and irregular
living ; all covetousness, vain glory and sloth ; all malice, anger
and wrath; all remembrance of injuries, all blasphemy, and every
motion of the flesh and spirit that is contrary to the purity of thv
will.

THE EXCLAMATION'.

And grant, O Lord, that we may boldly, and without blame,
with a pure heart and contrite mind, without shame and confusion,
and with sanctified lips, presume to call upon thee our God and
heavenly Father, and say,

People. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,
D

18 ST. JAMES'S LITURGY.

as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not
into temptation ; but deliver us from evil. Amen.
The Priest bowing his head, says :

And lead us not into temptation, O Lord, thou God of power,
who knowest our infirmity ; but deliver us from the evil one and
his works, and from all his insults and contrivances, for the sake
of thy holy name, which we call upon to supply our insufficiency.

THE EXCLAMATION.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, now and ever.

People. Amen.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

People. And with thy Spirit.

Deacon. Let us bow down our heads unto the Lord.

People. To thee, O Lord.

The Priest prays, and says thus :

To thee, O Lord, we thy servants bow down our heads before
thy holy altar, in expectation of the riches of thy mercy. Send
down upon us, O Lord, thine abundant grace and benediction,
and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and spirits, that we may be
made worthy communicants and partakers of thy holy mysteries,
for the remission of our sins, and for eternal life.

THE EXCLAMATION.

For to thee, our God, is due all worship, and to thine only
begotten Son, and thine Holy Spirit, both now and ever.

People, Amen.

The Priest says with a loud voice,

And the grace and mercy of the holy, con substantial, uncreated,
and adorable trinity be with us all.

People. And with thy Spirit.

Deacon. Let us attend in the fear of God.

The Priest lifting up the gifts, says by himself,

O holy Lord, who dwellest in the seat of holiness, sanctify us
by the word of thy grace, and the descent of thy Holy Spirit.
For thou, Lord, hast said, Ye shall be holy, as I am holy. O

ST. JAMES'S LITURGY. 19

Lord our God, the incomprehensible Word of God, of one eternal
and inseparable substance with the Father and the Holy Ghost,
accept the immortal and seraphic hymn at thy holy and unbloody
sacrifice from me a sinner, crying and saying,

THE EXCLAMATION.

Holy things are for holy persons.

People. There is but one that is holy, one Lord Jesus Christ,
to the honour of God the Father; to whom be glory for ever and
ever.

Deacon. For the remission of our sins, and the reconciliation
of our souls, for all that are under affliction and calamity, and
that want the mercy and assistance of God ; for the conversion of
those that are in error, and the recovery of the sick ; for the
deliverance of captives, and for the repose of our fathers and
brethren that are gone before us, let us pray earnestly, and say,
Lord have mercy.

People. Lord have mercy, Three times.

Then the Priest breaks the bread, and taking one half in
his right hand, and the other in his left, he dips the right
hand piece into the cup, and says,

The union of the most holy body and precious blood of our
Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Then he signs the left hand piece, and after that, the other
half ; and immediately begins to break and to distribute a
part into each cup, saying,

The union is made, sanctified, and completed, in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, now and ever.
And when lie signs the bread, he says,

Behold the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, that takes
away the sins, and was sanctified for the life and salvation of the
world.

And when he distributes a piece into each cup, lie says,

This is a portion of Christ's holy body, full of grace and truth,
of the Father and the Holy Ghost ; to whom be honour and
power for ever and ever.

Then he begins to break it in pieces, and say,

The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He
shall feed me in a green pasture. And the rest of the psalm.

20 ST. JAMES'S LITUKGY.

Then he says,
I will always give thanks unto the Lord :

And what jolloivs.
Then, I will magnify thee, O Lord my King :

And what follows.
Then, O praise the Lord, all ye heathen.

And what follows
Deacon. Sir, bless us.

Priest. The Lord bless and preserve us unblamable in the
participation of his immaculate gifts, now, and for ever, to eternal
ages.

And when it is finished, the Deacon says,
Sir, bless us.

Priest. The Lord bless us, and make us worthy to take the
burning coal off thy altar with unpolluted hands, and to put it
into the mouths of the faithful, for the purification and renewal
of their souls and bodies, now and ever.

Then he says,

Taste and see how gracious the Lord is, who is broken, and
not divided ; is given to the faithful, and not consumed ; for the
remission of sins, and for everlasting life, now and for ever, to
eternal ages.

Deacon. Let us sing in the peace of Christ.
The singers. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The Priest says the following prayer just before the

communion.

i LORD our God, the bread that came down from heaven is the
life of the world. I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
and am not worthy to partake of the immaculate mysteries. But,
3 merciful God, do thou make me worthy by thy grace, that I
may receive thy holy body, and precious blood, not to my con
demnation, but for the remission of my sins, and eternal life.
Then he communicates to the clergy. And when the deacons
take away the patens and the chalices to deliver the
sacrament to the people, he that takes away the first paten,
says.
Sir, bless us.

Tfie Priest answers :
Glory be to God, who has sanctified, and does sanctify us all.

ST. JAMES'S LITURGY. -21

The Deacon says,

Be thou exalted above the heavens, and thy glory above all the
earth : for thy kingdom endureth throughout all ages.

And when the Deacon is going to place it upon the

side-table, the Priest says,

Blessed be the name of the Lord our God for ever.
Deacon. Draw near in the fear of God, with faith and love.
People. Blessed is he that coineth in the name of the Lord.
And again, when he taketU away the paten from the

side-table, he says,
Sir, bless us.
Priest. O God, save thy people, and bless thine inheritance.

The Priest says again,
Glory be to our God, who has sanctified us all.

And when he places the cup upon the holy table,

the Priest says,
Blessed be the name of the Lord, for ever and ever.

The Deacons and People say,

Fill our mouths with thy praise, O Lord, and our lips with joy,
that we may sing and glorify thy majesty all the day long.

And again :

We give thanks to thee, O Christ our God, that thou hast
vouchsafed to make us partakers of thy body and blood, for the
remission of our sins, and for eternal life. Keep us, we beseech
thee, without blame, according to thy great goodness, and love
of mankind.

THE

LITUKGY OF ST. MAKE,

BEING THE ANCIENT LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA, OF

WHICH ST. MARK WAS THE FIRST BISHOP, AND WHICH WAS

USED THROUGHOUT THAT PATRIARCHATE, CONTAINING

EGYPT, LYBIA, PENTAPOLIS, AND ETHIOPIA.

Translated from the edition of Rcnaudotius, published in Greek and Latin, at Paris, 1716

The creed being ended, the Priest signs the People with
the sign of the cross, and says with a loud voice :

The Lord be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

Priest. Lift up your hearts.

People. We lift them up unto the Lord.

Priest. Let us give thanks to the Lord.

People. It is meet and right.

The Priest begins the anaphora.

IT is very meet and right, holy and becoming, as well as pro
fitable to our souls, to sing praises, to give thanks, to make our
humble confession, night and day, with heart and voice, to Thee,
who art from everlasting, O Lord God, Father Almighty ; who
didst create the heaven, the earth, the sea, the fountains, rivers,
lakes, and all things which are therein: who madest man in
thine own image, and after thine own likeness, and didst put him
into Paradise, to lead his life in delicacy and ease : and when by
his disobedience he had forfeited his claim to happiness, thou
didst not abandon or despise him ; but didst reclaim him by the
law, instruct him by the prophets, restore and receive him by this
tremendous, life-giving, heavenly sacrament. Thou createdst all
things by thy wisdom, the true light, thine only-begotten Son,
our Lord, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ Wherefore, giving
thanks through him to thee. together with him and the Holy

ST. MARK'S LITURGY. 23

Ghost, we offer this reasonable and unbloody worship, which is
offered to thee by all nations, from the rising to the setting of the
sun ; from the north unto the south. For thy name is great
among all nations, and in every place incense, sacrifice, and
oblations are offered to it.

We most earnestly beseech thee, O thou lover of mankind, to
be mindful of the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which
is spread over the face of the whole earth : be mindful, O Lord,
of all thy people, the flocks of thy fold.

Send down from heaven into our hearts that peace which the
world cannot give, and that too of this world.

Guide in peace the king, the armies, the commanders, the
senate, the councils, the people, the neighbourhood, our coming
in and our going out.

O King of peace, give us thy peace, keep us in love and
charity ; be pur God, for we know none besides thee ; we call
upon thy name : grant unto our souls the life of righteousness,
that the death of sin may not prevail against us, or any of thy
people.

Visit, O Lord, and heal those who are sick, according to thy
pity and compassion ; turn from them and from us all sickness
and diseases ; restore them to, and confirm them in their strength.
Raise up those who have lingered under long and tedious
indispositions ; succour those who are vexed with unclean spirits.
Relieve those who are in prisons, or in the mines ; under accusa
tions, or condemnations ; in exile, or in slavery, or loaded with
grievous tribute; deliver them all, for thou art our God, who
loosest those who are in bonds, and raisest up those who are
oppressed ; the hope of the hopeless, the helper of the helpless,
the lifter up of those who are fallen, the haven of those who are
shipwrecked, the avenger of those who are injured. Give thy
pity, pardon, and refreshment to every Christian soul, whether in
affliction or in error. And, O Lord, thou Physician of soul and
body, heal all our infirmities both of soul and body ; O thou who
art the overseer of all flesh, watch over us, and heal us by thy
saving health. Be a guide at all times and in all places to our
brethren who are travelling, or about to travel whether by land
or by water, whatever way they pursue their journey, bring them
all to a quiet and safe port ; be with them in their voyages, and
on their road, restore them to their friends, and let them receive

24 ST. MARK'S LITURGY.

each other in joy and health. Preserve us also, O Lord, in our
pilgrimage through this life, from hurt and danger. Send rain
out of thy treasures upon those places which stand in need of it »
renew and make glad the face of the earth by its descent, that
bringing forth, it may rejoice in the drops thereof. Raise the
waters of the river to their just height, renew and make glaxl the
face of the earth by the ascent of them, water its furrows, and
increase its produce. BJess, O Lord, the fruits of the earth, and
preserve them incorrupt for our use, that we may sow and reap
from them. Bless also, O Lord, and crown the year with the
riches oi thy goodness, for the sake of the poor, the widow, the
fatherless, and the stranger : for the sake of all us who put our
trust in thee, and call upon thy holy name : for the eyes of all
wrait upon thee, O Lord, and thou givest them meat in due season.
O thou, that givest food to all flesh, fill our hearts with joy and
gladness ; give us always what is sufficient for the, relief of our
necessities, that we may abound in every good work in Jesus
Christ our Lord.

King of kings, and Lord of lords, defend thy servant our king,
who rightly believes in thee and thy Christ; that, as thou hast
appointed him to reign over us here upon earth, he may do it in
peace, in power, and in justice. Subdue all his enemies and
adversaries both at home and abroad: take the sword and buckler,
and stand up to help him : bring forth the spear, and stop the
way against them which persecute him : cover his head in the
day of battle, and grant that the fruit of his bod} may sit upon
his throne. Incline his heart to be favourable and gracious to
thy holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and to all Christian
people ; so that in his peace we may enjoy peace, and live quietly
in all godliness and honesty.

Give rest, O Lord our God, to the souls of our fathers and
brethren, who are departed in the faith of Christ ; be mindful of
our forefathers from the beginning of the world, of the patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, saints, just men,
and the soul of every one who is gone before us in the faith of
Christ; especially of those whom we this day commemorate, and
of our holy father Mark the apostle and evangelist, who shewed
unto us the way of salvation.

(^Hail thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed
art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,

ST. MARK'S LITURGY, 25

because thou broughtest forth the Saviour of our souls. With a
loud voice .} especially of the most holy, immaculate, blessed lady,
the mother of God, and the ever Virgin Mary.

Deacon. Sir, your blessing.

Priest. The Lord bless thee with his grace, now, henceforth,
and for evermore.

77/6? Deacon reads the dypticks of the dead.

The Priest bows down, and prays :

GIVE rest to the souls of all these, O Lord, our God, in the
tabernacles of thy saints ; dispense unto them in thy kingdom
those good things which thou hast promised, which eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man ;
which thou hast prepared, O God, for those who love thy holy
name. Give rest to their souls, and vouchsafe them the kingdom
of heaven : but grant unto us, that we may finish our lives as
Christians, well-pleasing to thee, and free from sin, and that we
may have our portion and lot with all thy saints. Receive, O
God, unto thy holy heaven, and intellectual altar in the heaven
of heavens, by the ministry of archangels, the eucharistical praises
of those that offer sacrifices and oblations to thee; of those wlio
would offer much or little, privately or openly, but have it not to
offer; of those who have this day brought their offerings.
Receive them as thou didst the gifts of thy righteous Abel, [here
the Priest casts on the incense, and says,'] the sacrifice of our
father Abraham, the incense of Zacharias, the alms of Cornelius,
and the widow's mites. Receive their offerings of praise and
thanksgiving, and for their earthly things give them heavenly, for
their temporal, eternal.! In a more especial manner preserve our
most holy and blessed Pope N. whom thou didst foreknow, and
ordain to govern thy holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and
our most holy Bishop N. preserve them many years in peace arid
quietness, that they may faithfully discharge the duties of thy
High Priesthood committed to them ; rightly dispensing, accord
ing to thy holy will the Word of Truth. Be mindful also of all
orthodox bishops, wheresoever they be, and all priests, deacons,
subdeacons, readers, singers, monks, virgins, widows, and laics.
Be mindful also of the holy city, of Christ our God, of the
imperial city, of this our city, and of every other city and country,
and all that dwell therein, rightly professing the faith of Christ ;
E

"2(j *• ST. MARK'S LITURGY.

keep them all in peace and safety. Be mindful, O Lord, of every
Christian soul that is afflicted or distressed, and stands in need of
the assistance of thy divine mercy ; be mindful too of bringing
back those who have wandered out of the way. Remember also,
O Lord, our brethren which are in captivity ; grant that they
may find pity and compassion from those that have led them
away captive. Remember us also, O Lord, who are vile sinners,
and thy unworthy servants, and in thy merciful goodness blot out
our offences. Remember even me also, O Lord, thy lowly, sinful,
and unworthy servant, and in thy merciful goodness blot out mine
offences. Be present with us who minister to thy holy name.
Bless, O Lord, our congregations. Root out idolatry from the
world. Beat dowrn satan, with all his wicked contrivances,
under our feet. Humble, O Lord, the enemies of thy church, as
thou hast always been wont to do. Expose their pride, convince
them of their weakness, discover their snares, and confound all
their devices which they have imagined against us. Arise, O
Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; let them be turned
backward, and put to confusion, who hate thy holy name : but to
thy faithful people, which do thy will, give thousand thousands,
and ten thousand times ten thousand of blessings.
Deacon All you who are sitting, rise up.

The Priest says this prayer :

RELEASE those that are in bonds, relieve those that are in
necessity, feed the hungry, comfort the feeble-minded, bring
back those that are gone astray, give light to them that are in
darkness, raise up those that are fallen, fix the unstable, heal the
sick : direct all, O God, into the way of salvation, and gather
them into thy fold ; but deliver us from our iniquities, and be in
all things our protection and defence.
Deacon. To the East

The Priest bows down, and prays :

FOR thou art above all principality and power, might and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world,
but also in that which is to come ; thousand thousands, and ten
thousand times ten thousand of angels, and archangels, thine
armies stand before thee, as likewise do those two most honourable
kind of creatures the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged

ST. MARK'S LITURGY. '27

seraphim, who with twain cover their faces, and with twain their
feet, and with twain they fly, calling one to another, never ceas
ing from divine praises, singing, crying out, and glorifying;
lifting up their voices, and saying that triumphal and most holy
hymn to thy great glory.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of
thy glory. Exalting his voice : It is thou, indeed, who dost
make all holy, nevertheless, O Lord, together with all those that
hallow thee, accept our holy song, which we sing together with
them, saying,

People. Holy, holy, holy, Lord.

The Priest signs ihe holy elements with the sign of the

cross, saying,

HEAVEN and earth are indeed full of thy glory, by the manifesta
tion of our Lord, our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ : sanctify
also, O God, this sacrifice with thy benediction, by the descent
of thine Holy Spirit upon it. For our Lord himself, our God,
and supreme king Jesus Christ, in the same night wherein he
delivered himself for our sins, and was about to suffer death for
mankind, sitting down to supper with his disciples, he took
bread in his holy, spotless, and undefiled hands, and looking up
to thee his Father, but our God, and the God of all, he gave
thanks, he blessed, lie sanctified, and brake it, and gave it to
them, saying, Exalting his voice,, Take, eat.
Deacon. Attend.

Priest with a loud voice :

For this is my body, which is broken, and given for the
remission of sins.
People. Amen.

The Priest praying, says,

IN like manner he took the cup after supper, and mixing it with
wine and water, and looking up to heaven, to thee his Father,
but our God, and the God of all, he gave thanks, he blessed,
he filled it with the Holy Ghost, and gave it to his holy and
blessed disciples, saying, Exalting his voice, Drink ye all of this.
Deacon. Attend again.

28 ST. MARK'S LITURGY

The Priest with a loud voice.

FOR ibis is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed and
given for you, and for many, for the remission of sins.
People. Amen.

The Priest yoes on, praying thus:

Do this in remembrance of me : for as often as ye shall eat this
bread, and drink this cup, ye shew forth my death, and confess
my resurrection and ascension, till rny coming again. Shewing
forth therefore, O Lord Almighty, heavenly king, the death of
thine only begotten Son our Lord, our God, and Saviour Jesus
Christ, and confessing his blessed resurrection from the dead on
the third day, his ascension into heaven, and his session at the
right hand of thee his God and Father j and also looking for his
second terrible and dreadful appearance, when he shall come in
righteousness to judge both the quick and the dead, and to render
to every man according to bis works, we, O Lord God, have
set before thee thine own, out of thine own gifts. And we pray
and beseech thee, O thou lover of mankind, to send down from
thy holy heaven, the habitation of thy dwelling, from thine infi
nite bosom, the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy One,
the Lord, the giver oflife, who spake in the law, in the prophets,
and in the apostles ; who is everywhere, and fills all things,
sanctifying whom he pleases, not ministerially, but according to
his own will; simple in nature, but various in operation; the
fountain of all divine graces; consubstantial with thee, proceed
ing from thee, and sitting with thee in the throne of thy kingdom,
together with thy Son our Lord, our God and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Send down thine Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these
loaves, and these cups, that the Almighty God may sanctify,
,and throughly consecrate them; Exalting ///# voice; making
the bread the body.
People. Amen.

The Priest tcith a loud voice :

And the cup the blood of the New Testament of our Lord him
self, our God, our Saviour, and supreme King Jesus Christ.
Deacon Descend, ye deacons.

ST. MARK'S LITURGY. 29

Priest with a loud voice :

THAT they may be to us, who partake of them, the means of faith,
sobriety, health, temperance, sanctification, the renewing of our
soul, our body, and spirit ; the communion of the blessedness of
eternal life and immortality ; the glorifying of thy holy name ;
and the remission of sins : that as well in this, as in all things
else, thy holy, honourable, and glorious name may, together with
Christ, and the Holy Ghost, be hallowed, praised, and glorified.

People. As was, and is.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

Deacon. Pray ye.

The Priest prays privately :

O GOD of light, Father of life, Author of grace, Maker of ages,
Fountain of knowledge, Giver of wisdom, Treasure of holiness,
Teacher of un corrupt prayer, Benefactor of the soul, who givest
to those who are poor in spirit, and put their trust in thee, such
things as the very angels desire to look into ; who hast brought
us out of darkness into light, from death to life, from bondage
into liberty, and hast dispelled the cloud of sin which hung about
us, by the coming of thine only begotten Son. Even now, O
Lord, do thou so enlighten our understanding by the coming of
thy Holy Spirit upon us, that we may partake of this immortal,
heavenly food, not to our condemnation ; but so throughly sanc
tify us in soul, in body, and in spirit, that we may say with thy
holy disciples and apostles this prayer:

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. with a loud voice.
And vouchsafe, O Lord, thou lover of mankind, that with bold
ness, uncondemned, with a pure heart, an enlightened soul, and
cheerful countenance, we may dare to call upon thee, O God the
Father, and say,

People. Our Father, which art in heaven, &c.

The Priest prays.

O LORD, LORD, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil. For thy abundant pity knoweth, that we are not able to
withstand it, by reason of our manifold infirmities. With the
temptation therefore make a way to escape, that we may be
able to withstand it; for thou hast given us power to tread

30 ST. MARK'S LITURGY.

upon serpents and scorpions, and all the strength of the enemy.
Exalting his voice : For thine is the kingdom, and the power.

People. Amen.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

Deacon. Bow down your heads to the Lord Jesus.

The Priest prays :

O LORD God Almighty, that sittest between the cherubim,
and art glorified by the seraphim, who hast stretched out the
heaven from the waters, and beautified it with a choir of stars ;
who hast placed on high armies of incorporeal angels for thine
eternal glory ; we bow down ourselves, both soul and body,
before thee, testifying thereby our subjection to thee, and beseech
thee to defend us from all the secret attacks of sin, and to make
us glad with the Divine Influence of thine Holy Spirit; so that
being filled with the knowledge of thee, we may worthily partake
of the good things lying before us, the spotless body, the preci
ous blood of thine only begotten Son our Lord, our God, and
Saviour Jesus Christ ; thou, of thy manifold and unsearchable
goodness, forgiving all our sins, through the grace, mercy, and
goodwill of thine only begotten Son. Exalting his voice;
Through whom, and with whom, together with the hoty, good,
and life-giving spirit, glory and power be unto thee.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

Deacon. With the fear of God.

Tlie Priest prays:

O HOLY, high, and terrible Lord, who dwellest in thy holy places,
sanctify us with thy grace and the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit.
For thou, Lord, hast said, Be ye holy, as 1 am holy. O Lord,
our God, the incomprehensible Word, consubstantial, co-eternal
and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost, receive the
immortal hymn which is proclaimed aloud, and said, with the
cherubim and the seraphim, by me a sinner, thy unworthy ser
vant, and my unhallowed lips.

The Priest with a loud roice :

Holy things for holy persons.

People. There is one Holy Father, one Holy Son, One Holy
Ghost; in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Deacon. For salvation and defence.

ST. MARK'S LITURGY,

31

The Priest signing the people with the sign of the cross,

says aloud,
The Lord be with you all.

Here the Priest breaks the bread, saying to them that assist him,

The Lord bless you, and of his great goodness be with you in
your ministrations.

Here the Priest says, command.

The Clergy. May the Holy Ghost command, and sanctify.

Priest. Behold it is sanctified, it is consecrated.

Clergy, One Holy Father, one Holy Son, one Holy Ghost.

Priest. The Lord be with you all.

Clergy. And with thy Spirit.

Priest. He has blessed it.

The Priest receives, and says a prayer, 8$c.
As the hart desireth the rivers of waters, so loiigeth my soul
after thee, O God.

And when he gives the bread to the Clergy, he says,
The holy body.

And when he delivers the cup, he says,
The precious blood of our Lord, our God and Saviour.

THE

LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM,

WHICH IS THE LITURGY USED IN THE PATRIARCHATE OF
CONSTANTINOPLE.

As it is published by Goar, in his Euchologmm, or Collection of the offices of the Greek Church.
Printed at Paris, 1647.

AFTER tlie bread arid cup have been placed upon the altar, into
which cup the deacon had poured wine and water,
The Priest shall say with a loud voice,

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

Priest. Let us lift up our hearts.

People. We lift them up unto the Lord.

Priest. Let us give thanks unto the Lord.

People. It is meet and right to worship the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, the consubstantial, undivided trinity.

The Priest bowing clown, prays with a low voice :
IT is meet and right to praise Thee, to bless Thee, to glorify
Thee, to give thanks to Thee, to worship Thee, in all places of
thy dominion ; for thou art God ineffable, inconceivable, invisi
ble, incomprehensible, from everlasting to everlasting, the same
thou, and thine only begotten Son, and Holy Spirit. Thou
broughtest us out of nothing into being; and when (by our
disobedience) we were fallen, thou didst raise us again, and try
if by any means thou couldst bring us to heaven, and give us an
inheritance in thy kingdom. For these and all other thy mercies,
whether known to us or unknown, whether public or private, we
give thanks to thee, and thine only begotten Son, and Holy

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY. 33

Spirit. We likewise give tliee thanks, that thou dost vouchsafe
to receive this worship from our hands, seeing thou art encom
passed with thousands of archangels, and ten thousands of angels,
the cherubim, and seraphim, with six wings, and many eyes, who
aloft, upon the wing, with a loud voice, sing, proclaim, cry out,
and say that triumphal hymn.

People. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth
are full of thy glory, hosanna in the highest ; blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest.

Then the Deacon takes the asterisk, and making a cross over
the paten ivith it, and wiping it with the corporal, kisses
it, and lays it down with the air. Then he goes to the
right side, and reverently fans the holy things with a fan ;
but if there be no fan, he does it with the veil.

The Priest prays with a low voice :

WITH these blessed powers, we, O Lord, thou lover of mankind,
cry out, and say, Holy art thou, most holy thou, thine only
begotten Son, and Holy Spirit. Holy art thou, most holy and
great is thy glory ; who didst so love the world, that thou gavest
thine only begotten Son, that every man who believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. He came into the
world, and fulfilled whatever was appointed him to do for our
sakes, and in the same night wherein he was delivered up, or
rather he delivered up himself, to suffer death for the life of the
world ; he took bread into his holy, spotless, and undefiled
hands ; he gave thanks, and blessed it ; he sanctified, and brake
it, and gave it to his disciples and apostles, saying,

TJie Priest bows his head, and devoutly lifting up his right
hand, blesses the holy bread, saying with a loud voice,

Take, eat ; this is my body, which is broken for you, for the
remission of sins.
People. Amen.

The Deacon taking hold of his orarium, points, together with
the Priest, to the holy paten ; the same is done afterward
to the cup. This is done in like manner when the Priest
pronounces these words :
Thine own, of thine own, &c.
F

34 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY.

The Priest with a low voice :

Likewise the cup after supper, saying,

The Priest devoutly lifting up his hand, and blessing it, says,

Drink ye all of this ; this is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins.

People. Amen.

Tlie Priest bowing his head, says with a low voice :
IN remembrance therefore of this command of our Saviour, and
all those things which he did for us, his cross, his burial, his
resurrection on the third day, his ascension into heaven, his
sitting down at thy right hand, and his second coming in great
glory.

With a loud voice. Through all, and in all things, we offer to
thee thine own, out of thine own gifts.

People. We praise thee, we bless thee, we give thanks to thee,
O Lord, and supplicate thee, O our God.

The Priest bowing down, says with a low voice :
We offer to thee this reasonable and unbloody worship, and
beg, pray, beseech thee to send down thine Holy Spirit upon us,
and upon these gifts lying before thee.

The Deacon lays down the fan, or the veil which he had in
his hand ; and going nearer to the Priest, they both bow
down three times before the holy table, and pray privately :

O GOD, be merciful to me a sinner, three times.

O Lord, who didst send thy Holy Spirit upon thy apostles at
the third hour, take him not from us.
And

Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me.

Then the Deacon bowing down his head, points with the

orarium to the holy bread, arid says with a low voice :
Bless, sir, the holy bread.

And the Priest standing upright, signs three times the holy
gifts with the cross, and says with a low voice :

Make this bread the precious body of thy Christ.
Deacon. Amen. f

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY. 35

The Deacon again :
Bless, sir, the holy cup.

And the Priest blessing it, says,

And what is in this cup, the precious blood of thy Christ.
Deacon. Amen.

The Deacon again pointing to both with the orarium, says,

Bless, sir.

And the Priest blessing both with his hand, says,
Changing them by thy Holy Spirit.
Deacon. Amen, Amen, A men.

The Deacon bowing down to the Priest, says,
Holy sir, remember me a sinner.

Then he returns to the place where he stood before,
and takes the fan into his hand.

The Priest prays with a low voice :

THAT it may be to those who partake of it for sobriety, the
remission of sins, the communication of the Holy Ghost, the ful
ness of the kingdom of heaven ; for confidence in thee, and not
for judgment or condemnation.

We offer moreover this reasonable worship, for those who are
departed from us in faith, our forefathers, fathers, patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors,
chaste persons, and every spirit perfected in faith : With a loud
voice : especially the most holy, immaculate, blessed above all,
most glorious lady, the mother of God, and ever Virgin Mary.

The People sing, It is indeed meet to call thee blessed, who
art the mother of God, most highly blessed for ever, beyond
exception ; more honourable than the cherubim, and more glori
ous than the seraphim, who by an immaculate conception didst
bear God the Word : we magnify thee, mother of God.

Or else they sing something proper for the day.

T7ie Deacon burns frankinseitse round the altar, reads the
dypticks, and remembers so many of the dead and living as
he thinks fit.

36 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGV.

The Priest bowing down, says with a low voice :
ST. JOHN the prophet, the forerunner of our Saviour, and the
Baptist; the holy arid renowned apostles, N. whom we comme
morate, and all other thy saints : for the sake of whose prayers,
O God, look upon us ; and be mindful of those who rest in hope
of a resurrection to eternal life.

Here the Priest remembers whom he pleases, whether
living or dead.

For the living he says :

For health, protection, and remission of the sins of N. the
servant of God.

For the dead he says :

For the rest and forgiveness of the soul of thy servant N.
Give it rest, O God, in a pleasant place, where there is no sorrow
or mourning, but where it may rejoice in the light of thy counte
nance. We beseech thee likewise, O Lord, to remember all
orthodox bishops, and those who rightly divide the Word of
Truth, the presbyters and deacons in Christ, and all others of the
ministerial order. We offer likewise this reasonable worship for
the whole world ; for the holy catholic and apostolic church ; for
all who lead their lives in chastity and holiness ; for our emperors
who live in the faith and love of Christ, for their court and camp.
Give them, O Lord, a peaceable reign, that in their peace we
also may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty.

TJien the Deacon turns to the door of the sacred place, and
holding his orarium in three fingers, says,

And for all men and women.

The People sing And for all men and women.

The Priest aloud. In the first place, remember, O Lord, our
most sacred Metropolitan Ar. Preserve him for the sake of thy
holy church in safely, honour, health, long life, rightly dividing
the Word of Truth. *

T7te Deacon standing at the door, says,

For N. our most sacred Metropolitan, or Bishop, whoever he
be. And for the most devout priest N. who is now offering these

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY. 37

holy gifts. For the safety of our most religious emperors, who
are God's more especial care ; and for all men and women.
People. For all men and women.

Tlie Priest prays with a low voice :

Remember, O Lord, this city wherein we dwell, and every
other city and country, and all the faithful who dwell in them
Remember, O Lord, all that travel by land or by water, all that
labour under sickness or slavery ; remember them for health and
safety. Remember, O Lord, those in thy holy church who bring
forth good works, and forget not the poor. Grant unto us all thy
mercy and loving kindness.

With a loud voice :

And grant that we may with one mouth, and one heart, praise
and glorify thy great and glorious name, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, now, henceforth, and for ever.
People. Amen.

The Priest turns to the door, and blessing with a loud *

voice, says,

The blessing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ,
be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

The Deacon taking this opportunity of going without the
door and standing in the accustomed place, says,

Being mindful of all saints, let us again and again pray unto
the Lord.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us pray unto the Lord for the sake of the precious
gifts now offered and consecrated.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us pray unto the Lord, that our God, the lover of
mankind, who has received them upon his holy, heavenly, and
intellectual altar for a sweet smelling savour, would send down
npon us his divine grace, the gift of his Holy Spirit.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us pray unto the Lord, that we may be delivered
from all affliction, wrath, danger, and necessity.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

38 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY.

The Priest prays with a low voice :

To thee, O gracious Lord, we commend our life and hope, and
pray, beseech, and implore thee, to make us worthy to communi
cate of the heavenly and tremendous mysteries of this sacred and
spiritual table with a pure conscience, for the remission of our
sins, for the pardon of our manifold offences, for the fellowship of
the Holy Ghost, for an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for
sure confidence in thee, and not for judgment and condemnation..

Deacon. Receive, preserve, have mercy upon us, and keep us,
O God, of thy goodness.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us beseech the Lord, that we may spend all our
days in holiness, in peace, and free from sin.

People. Grant this, O Lord.

Deacon. Let us beseech the Lord to appoint unto us an angel
of peace, for a faithful guide, and guardian both of our souls and
bodies.
*= People. Grant this, O Lord.

Deacon. Let us beseech the Lord for pardon and forgiveness
of our sins and offences.

People. Grant this, O Lord.

Deacon. Let us beseech the Lord for those things which are
good and profitable for our souls, and for the peace of the world.

People. Grant this, O Lord.

Deacon. Let us beseech the Lord that we may lead the residue
of our lives in peace and repentance.

People. Grant this, O Lord.

Deacon. Let us commend ourselves, and one another, to Christ
our God, beseeching him to grant us unity in faith, and the com
munion of the Holy Ghost.

People. We commend ourselves and one another to thee,
O Lord.

The Priest with a loud voice :

And grant, O Lord, that we may boldly, and without blame,
presume to call upon thee our God, and heavenly Father,
saying,

People. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, &c.

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY. 39

The Priest ivitli a loud voice :

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for ever.
People. Amen.

Priest. Peace he with you all.
People* And with thy spirit.
Deacon. Bow down your heads to the Lord.
People. To thee, O Lord.

The Deacon bowing his head a little, and seeing the Priest
worship, worships also himself.

Tlie Priest in a bowing posture, prays with a low voice:

WE give thanks to thee, O invisible King, who of thine infinite
power hast created all things, and of the multitude of thy mercy
hast brought all things out of nothing into being. Look down
from heaven, O Lord, upon those who have bowed down their
heads to thee ; for they have not bowed down to flesh and blood ;
but to thee a terrible God. Dispense therefore, O Lord, these
mysteries lying before thee, to all of us for good, and according
to the several necessities of each of us. Be present with all who
travel by land, or by water, and heal all who are diseased, O thou,
who art the physician both of soul and body. With a loud voice :
Through the grace, mercies, and loving kindness of thine only
begotten Son, with whom, together with the holy, good, and life
giving Spirit, blessed art thou, now, henceforth, and for ever.

People. Amen.

The Priest prays with a low voice :

Draw near, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, from the habitation
of thy dwelling, and the throne of glory in thy kingdom, and
come and sanctify us, O thou, who sittest on high at the right
hand of the Father, and at the same time art invisibly present
with us here below : and vouchsafe to impart to us, by thy mighty
hand, thine immaculate body, and most precious blood ; and by
us to all the people.

Then the Priest worships, and likewise the Deacon, in the
place where he stands ; both of them saying three times,
Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.
All the people in like manner worship devoutly.

40 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY.

The Deacon when he sees the Priest stretching forth his
hands, and touching the holy bread, in order to make the
elevation, says with a loud voice,

Let us draw near.

Priest. Holy things for holy persons.

People. There is one holy, one Lord Jesus Christ in the glory
of God the Father. Amen.

Then the people sing the antiphon of the day, or of the saint
whose feast is celebrated.

And the Deacon girds himself with the orarium in the form
of a cross, and standing at the right hand of the Priest
who holds the bread, says,

Divide, sir, the holy bread.

Then the Priest carefully and devoutly breaks it into four
parts, and says,

The Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, is broken and
divided ; he is divided, but not diminished ; he is always eaten,
but not consumed : but sanctifies all who are partakers of him.

Then he takes one piece of the holy bread, and holds it in Ins
hand. And the Deacon pointing with the orarium to the
holy cup, says,

Fill, sir, the holy cup.

The Priest says,
The fulness of faith is of the Holy Ghost.

And making the sign of the cross, puts it into the holy cup.
Deacon. Amen.

And taking warm water, he says to the Priest,
Bless, sir, this holy warm water.

The Priest blessing it, says,

Blessed be the fervent zeal of thy saints, now, henceforth, and
for evermore. Amen.

Then the Deacon pours it in the form of a cross into the holy

cup, saying,
The fervency of faith is full of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY. 41

And this he does three times. Then setting away the vessel
of warm water, he stands at a little distance: but the
PriesTsays,

Deacon, come near.

The Deacon comes near with reverence, makes his confession,
and desires forgiveness. The Priest holding out the holy
bread, gives it to the Deacon, and the Deacon kissing the
hand which holds it out to him, takes it, saying,

Make me partaker, sir, of the precious and holy body of our
Lord, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Priest says,

I do make you partaker of the precious, holy, and immaculate
body of our Lord, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins and eternal life.

Then he withdraws behind the holy table, bowing his head,
and prays in the same manner that the Priest does. For
the Priest also receives the holy bread, boit'ing his head
before the holy table, and prays in this manner :

I believe, Lord, and confess that thou art Christ the Son of the
living God, who didst come into the world to save sinners, of
which I am chief, &c.

And, Receive me, O Son of God, who have now communicated
of thy mystical supper. For I will not divulge this mystery to
thine enemies ; I will not give thee a deceitful kiss, as Judas did;
but as the thief will confess to thee : Remember me, O Lord, in
thy kingdom.

And, I am not worthy, Lord, that thou shouldst come unto
me : but as thou didst vouchsafe to lodge in a den, and stable of
brute beasts ; and in the house of Simon the leper ; and didst
receive the harlot, a sinner like unto me, when she came to thee :
vouchsafe in like manner to enter into the stable of my brutish
soul, my denied body, who am dead in sin, a spiritual leprosy.
And forasmuch as thou didst not disdain the foul mouth of the
harlot, when she kissed thy unpolluted feet ; disdain not me who
am a sinner, O Lord my God. But as thou art good and gracious,
make me worthy to partake of thy most holy body and blood.

Remit, pardon, and forgive, O God, all the sins which T have
G

42 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY.

committed against thee, whether knowingly or ignorantly, whether
by word or deed ; according to thy goodness and pity forgive
them all, through the intercessions of thy spotless and ever virgin
mother. Suffer me not to fall under condemnation, but to receive
thy precious and immaculate body, for the healing of my soul
and body. For thine is the kingdom, power, and glory, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.

In the same manner as they received the holy bread, they
receive the holy cup. The Priest takes the holy cup, and
drinks of it three times, bowing down all the time ; the
first time he drinks, he says,

In the name of the Father,
the second, and Son,
the third, and Holy Ghost.

After he has received, he decently and reverently wipes the
holy cup and his own lips with the veil, saying,

This has touched my lips, and shall take away mine iniquities,
and shall purge me from my sins, from this time forth, and for
evermore. Amen.

Still holding in his hand the holy cup, he calls the Deacon,
saying,

Deacon, draw near.

The Deacon draws near, and bowing down once, says,
Behold, I draw near to the immortal king.
And, I believe, Lord, and confess, &c. as before.

The Priest says,

Thou, O deacon, the servant of God, receivest the precious and
holy body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for
the remission of sins, and eternal life.

Whilst the Deacon communicates, the Priest says,
This has touched thy lips, and shall take away thine iniquities,
and shall purge thee from thy sins; as he said of himself.

Then the Deacon taking the holy paten, and holding it over

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S LITURGY. 43

the cup, wipes with the sponge all the crumbs into it, and
then carefully and reverently covers the holy cup with the
veil, and puts the asterisk with another veil over the paten.
They open the door, and the Deacon bowing with reverence,
takes the holy cup, and goes to the door ; then lifting it
up, shews it to the people, saying,

Draw near in the faith and fear of God.

People. Amen, Amen, Amen ; blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord.

[Here undoubtedly the communion is to be distributed to the
people; although in the Liturgy, as published by Goar, it
is not mentioned. For immediately after the people have
said Amen, Amen, Amen, &c. it follows;]

And the Priest blesses the people with a loud voice, saying,
Save thy people, O God, and bless thine inheritance.
People. For many years, O Lord. And the Deacon and
Priest return 1o the holy table.

THE

LITUEGY OF ST. BASIL,

WHICH IS USED UPON SOME OF THE GREAT FESTIVALS THROUGHOUT
THE PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

Published by Goar, in his Euchologium.

The Priest with a loud voice :

THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the
Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

Priest. Let us lift up our hearts.

People. We lift them up unto the Lord.

Priest. Let us give thanks unto the Lord.

People. It is meet and right to worship Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, the consubstantial and undivided Trinity.

The Priest bowing down, prays with a low voice :
O SOVEREIGN Lord, God the Father, who art Almighty and
adorable ; it is indeed very meet, right, and agreeable to the
majesty of thy holiness, that we should sing praises to thee, bless
thee, worship thee, give thanks to thee, glorify thee, the only true
God ; and with a contrite heart and humble spirit offer to thee
this our reasonable service. For it is thou who hast called us to
the knowledge of thy truth. But who is able to talk of thy power,
to shew forth thy praise, and tell of all thy wondrous works? O
thou governor of all things, Lord of heaven and earth, and of
every creature, whether visible or invisible, who sittest upon the
throne of glory, and from thence beholdest the vast abyss, self-
existing, invisible, incomprehensible, and immutable ; the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the great God and Saviour of our hope;

ST. BASIL'S LITURGY. 45

who is the express image of thy goodness, and the lively repre
sentation of thee his Father; the living Word, God before all ages,
wisdom, life, holiness, power, the true light from whence proceeded
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the grace of adoption, and
pledge of our future inheritance, the first fruits of eternal good
things, the life-giving power, and the fountain of holiness, by
whom all reasonable and intelligent creatures are empowered to
serve and praise thee : for all things do serve thee, angels, arch
angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, powers, the
many eyed cherubim, and seraphim, with six wings, who with
twain cover their faces, and with twain their feet, and with twain
they fly, crying one to another incessantly, and with uninterrupted
praises, the Priest with a loud voice, singing, shouting, crying
aloud, and saying the triumphal hymn.

People. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth
are full of thy glory, hosauna in the highest ; blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest.

Then the Deacon performs the same things which are pre
scribed in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom.

The Priest prays with a low voice :

WITH those blessed powers, O merciful Lord, we, unworthy sin
ners, cry aloud, and say ; Thou art indeed truly holy, thy holiness
is perfect, infinite, manifesting itself in all thy works ; for in
righteousness and true judgment hast thou done all things. When
thou hadst formed man out of the dust of the earth, and honoured
him, O God, with thine otvn image impressed upon him ; thou
didst place him in a Paradise of pleasure, with a promise of
rewarding his obedience to thy commands with immortality and
eternal happiness. But when, overreached by the subtilty of the
serpent, he became disobedient to thee, and by his transgressions
was made subject to death; thou, O God, in thy just judgment,
didst drive him out of Paradise, and reduce him again to earth
from whence he was taken, preparing for him however a new
birth to everlasting life, which is in thy Christ. For thou wast
not always wroth with thy creature, or for ever unmindful of the
work of thine own hands, but in thine abundant pity didst in
divers manners visit him with a providential care. Thou didst
send thy prophets, and shew mighty works through thy saints,

46 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

who pleased thee in all ages. Thou spakest to us by the mouth
of thy servants the prophets, who foretold us of a salvation to
come. Thou appointedst the law for our direction, and guardian
angels for our preservation. And when the fulness of time was
come, thou spakest unto us by thy Son, by whom thou hadst
made the worlds. Who being the brightness of thy glory, and
the express image of thy person, upholding all things by the word
of his power, thought it no robbery to be equal to thee his God
and Father. Nevertheless he who was God from all eternity,
came down from heaven, conversed with mankind, was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary, debased himself to the form of a servant,
making himself in his humiliation like unto us, that he might
raise us to the likeness of the image of his glory. For as by man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; it seemed good to
thine only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of thee his God and
Father, being made of a woman, the holy Mother of God, and
ever Virgin Mary, and under the law to triumph over sin in his
own flesh, that those who died in Adam, might be made alive in
him, thy Christ. He conversed in the world, instructed us in
the way of salvation, brought us from our idolatry, to the know
ledge of thee our true God and Father, purchasing us to himself
for a peculiar people, a royal priesthood, an holy nation ; and
having baptized us with water for the remission of our sins, and
sanctified us with the Holy Ghost, he gave himself a ransom to
redeem us from death, by which we were detained, being by our
sins become his prey ; and descending through the cross into
hell, that he might fulfil all things in himself, he loosed the pains
of death ; and rising again the third day, he led the way to a
resurrection of all flesh from the dead, forasmuch as it was
impossible for the author of life to be held of corruption : He be
came the first fruits of them that slept, and the first-begotten from
the dead, that he might be the first of all in all things. And
ascending up into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of thy
Majesty on high, who shall likewise come again to render to
every man according to his works. But he has left to us a
memorial of his saving passion, these gifts which we have now
offered according to his command : for when he was just going
out to his voluntary, glorious, and life giving death, in the same
night wherein he gave up himself for the life of the world, taking
bread into his holy and immaculate hands, and presenting it to

ST. BASIL'S LITURGY. 47

thee his God and Father, He gave thanks, blessed, sanctified,
and brake it,

The Priest bows down his head, and devoutly holding up his
right hand, he blesses the holy bread, saying with a loud
voice ;

He gave it to his holy disciples and apostles, saying, Take,
eat ; this is my body,' which is broken for you for the remission
of sins.

The people sing. Amen.

Then the Priest and Deacon do and say the same things
which are prescribed in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom.

Priest with a low voice :

In like manner taking, mixing, giving thanks, blessing, sanc
tifying the cup of the fruit of the vine.

The Priest holding up his right hand devoutly, and blessing
it, says with a loud voice :

He gave it to his holy disciples and apostles, saying, Drink ye
all of this ; this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed
for you, and for many, for the remission of sins.

The people sing. Amen.

The Priest bowing down his head, prays with a low voice :
Do this in remembrance of me : for as oft as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye shew forth my death, and confess my
resurrection. Wherefore we also, O Lord, having in remembrance
those things which he suffered for our salvation, his life-giving-
cross, his lying in the grave for three days, his resurrection from
the dead, his ascension into heaven, his session at the right hand
of thee his God and Father, and his glorious and terrible second
appearance, the Priest with a loud voice : through all, and
in all, offer to thee thine own, out of thine own gifts.

Tlie people sing. We praise thee, we bless thee, we give thanks
to thee, O Lord, and make our supplications to thee, O our God.

The Priest bowing his head, prays with a low voice :
Wherefore, O most holy Lord, we sinners, thy unworthy ser-

48 ST. BASIL'S LITUKGY.

vants, to whom thou hast vouchsafed the honour to minister unto
thee ; not upon account of our own righteousness, (for we have
done nothing praise- worthy) but according to thy mercies and
compassions which thou hast liberally bestowed upon us, approach
thy holy altar : and laying before thee these symbols of the holy
body and blood of thy Christ, we pray and beseech thee, O thou
Holy of holies, of thy gracious goodness to send down thine Holy
Spirit upon us, and upon these gifts, to bless, to sanctify, and to
perfect them.

The Deacon lays down the fan, or veil which he held, and
comes nearer to the Priest ; and both of them bow doivn
thrice before the holy table, and pray privately :

God be merciful to me a sinner, thrice with a low voice.

O Lord, who sentest thy Holy Spirit to thy apostles at the
third hour, take him not from us, O merciful God.

And, Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me.

Then the Deacon bowing his head, points with his orarium

to the holy bread, and says with a low voice :
Bless, sir, the holy bread.

The Priest standing upright, signs the holy gifts thrice, and
says with a low voice :

Make this bread the precious body of our Lord, our God and
Saviour Jesus Christ.
Deacon. Amen.

The Deacon again :

Bless, sir, the holy cup.

The Priest blessing it, says,

And this cup the precious blood of our Lord, our God and
Saviour Jesus Christ.
Deacon. Amen.

Priest. Which was shed for the light of the world.
Deacon. Amen.

The Deacon pointing again with the orarium to both the
holy things, says,

Bless, sir.

ST. BASIL'S LITURGY. 49

The Priest blessing both with his hand, says,

Changing them by thy Holy Spirit.
Deacon. Amen, Amen, Amen.

The Deacon bowing to the Priest, says,
Sir, be mindful of me a sinner.

Then he returns to the place where he stood at first, and
takes again his fan.

The Priest prays :

UNITE all us who partake of this one bread, and one cup, in the
communion of one Holy Spirt, and suffer none of us to partake of
the holy body and blood of thy Christ to our judgment and con
demnation ; but that we may find mercy and grace with all thy
saints who have pleased thee from the beginning of the world,
our forefathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evange
lists, martyrs, confessors, teachers, and every just soul departed
in the faith. With a loud voice; especially the most holy,
immaculate, blessed above all, most glorious lady, the mother of
God, and ever Virgin Mary.

The People sing :

We rejoice in thee.

But if it be Maundy Thursday, they sing :

Receive me, O Son of God, \vho this day communicate of thy
mystical supper ; for 1 will not divulge this mystery to thine
enemies ; I will not give thee a deceitful kiss, as Judas did, but
as the thief confess to thee : remember .me, O Lord, in thy
kingdom.

But if it be the great sabbath, they sing:

Let all flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling, lay
ing aside all earthly thoughts ; for the King of kings, and Lord
of lords, comes forth to be sacrificed, and given for food to the
faithful; preceded by choirs of archangels, principalities, and
powers, the many eyed cherubim, and six winged seraphim, who
covering their eyes, sing aloud, Hallelujah.
H

30 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

Here the Deacon burns incense round about the holy table,
and reads out of the dypticks the names of no many of the
dead and living as he thinks fit.

The Priest prays with a low voice :

ST. JOHN the prophet, the forerunner of our Saviour, and the
Baptist ; the holy and renowned apostles ; N. whom we com
memorate, and all other thy saints : for the sake of whose prayers,
O God, look upon us; and he mindful of those who rest in hope
of a resurrection to eternal life.

Here the Priest remembers whom he pleases, whether living
or dead.

For the living, he says :

For health, protection, and remission of the sins of A7, the
servant of God.

For the dead, he says :

For the rest, and forgiveness of the soul of thy servant N.
Give it rest, O God, in a pleasant place, where there is no sorrow
or mourning.

This prayer with a low voice :

GIVE it rest where it may rejoice in the light of thy countenance.
Farthermore, we beseech thee, O Lord, to be mindful of thy holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is spread over the face of
the whole earth ; grant it peace, forasmuch as it was purchased
by the precious blood of thy Christ ; and establish this holy
building that it may continue to the end of the world, Remem
ber, O Lord, those who have offered these gifts, for whom, and
by whom, and for what ends they have offered them unto thee.
Remember, O Lord, those in thy holy Church who bring forth
good fruit, are rich in good works, and forget not the poor;
reward them with the abundant riches of thine heavenly grace ;
for their earthly things give them heavenly, for their temporal
eternal, for their corruptible those which will not decay. Re
member, O Lord, those who are in deserts, mountains, dens, and
caves of the earth. Remember, O Lord, those who live in

ST. BASIL'S LITURGY. 51

virginity, piety, holy meditations, and a virtuous course of life.
Remember, O Lord, our most religious and faithful emperors,
whom thou hast appointed to reign over us here upon earth ;
defend them with the shield of truth, and of thy loving kindness,
cover their head in the day of battle ; strengthen their arm, and
exalt their right hand ; establish their kingdom, and subdue unto
them all barbarous nations who delight in war. Grant unto
them a profound and lasting peace ; incline their heart to be
favourable and gracious to thy Church, and all thy people ; that
in their peace, we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all
godliness and honesty. Remember, O Lord, all in power and
authority, and our brethren in court and camp ; those that are
good, preserve in goodness, and of thy mercy convert the wicked.
Remember, O Lord, those who are here present, and those who
upon a just account are absent, have mercy upon them, and us,
according to the multitude of thy loving kindnesses : fill their
garners with all manner of store, preserve their marriage in peace
and love, feed the infants, instruct the youth, confirm the aged,
strengthen the feeble minded, bring back those who are gone out
of the way, and unite them all to thine holy Catholic and Apos
tolic Church. Succour those who are vexed with unclean spirits;
be present with all those who travel by land or by water ; be a
husband to the widow, a lather to the fatherless; deliver those
who are in captivity, and heal the sick. Remember, O Lord,
those who are called to judgment, and those who are in exile,
distress, necessity, or any other adversity : remember all who
stand in need of thy pity, those who love us, and those who hate
us, and those who desire the prayers of us who are unworthy to
offer them unto thee. Remember, O Lord our God, all thy
people, and pour upon them the abundance of thy goodness,
grant the petitions which they make unto thee for help and
salvation. Do thou, O God, remember those whom we have not
remembered, either through our ignorance, forgetf ulness, or the
multitude of their names ; for thou knowest the age and condition
of them all, even from their mother's womb. For thou, Lord, art
the helper of the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the Saviour of
those who are tossed to arid fro by tempests, the port of the
sailors, and the physician of the sick. Be thou all things to all
men, for thou knowest them all, their petitions, their habitations,
and their several necessities. Preserve, O Lord, this city, and

52 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

every other city and country from famine, plague, earthquakes,
inundations,, fire, sword, incursion of strangers, and civil wars.

Then the Deacon turns to the door of the sacred place., and

holding his orariam in three fingers, says,
And all men and women.

The People sing.
And all men and women.

The Priest aloud.

In the first' place, remember, O Lord, our Archbishop N.
preserve him for the sake of thy Church, in peace, safety, honour,
health, long life, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Deacon standing at the door, says,

For N. our most sacred metropolitan, or Bishop, whoever he be,
and for the most devout Priest A7, who is now offering these holy
gifts; for the safety of our most religious emperors, who are God's
more especial care ; and for all men and women.

TJie Priest prays with a low voice:

REMEMBER, O Lord, all orthodox Bishops, rightly dividing the
word of truth: remember, according to the multitude of thy
mercies, my un worthiness, and forgive me all my offences,
whether voluntary or involuntary ; nor do thou, upon account of
my sins, withhold the grace of thy Holy Spirit from these gifts
now lying before thee. Remember, O Lord, all presbyters and
deacons in Christ, and all others of the ministerial order, and put
us not to dishonour who officiate at thy holy altar. Look upon
us in thy loving kindness, and manifest thyself to us, O Lord, in
thine abundant mercies Send us seasonable weather, and rains
for the production of fruits, and crown the year with thy goodness.
Heal the schisms in thy Church ; abate the rage of the heathen,
and put a stop to growing heresies by the power of thine Holy
Spirit; receive us all into thy kingdom, and make us the children
of light. Grant us, O Lord our God, thy peace and love, for it
is thou who bestowest all things upon us.

The Priest with a loud voice :
And grant that we may with one mouth, and one heart, praise

ST. BASIL'S LITUKGY. 53

and glorify thy great and glorious name, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
People. Amen.

The Priest turns to the door, and blessing them, says with a
loud voice :

The mercies of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ,
be with you all.

Then the Deacon goes out, if he be present; if not, the
Priest ; and standing in the accustomed place, says,

Be mindful of all saints, let us again and again pray unto the
Lord.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us pray unto the Lord for the sake of the precious
gifts now offered and consecrated.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us pray unto the Lord, that our God, the lover of
mankind, who has received them upon his holy, heavenly, and
intellectual altar for a sweet smelling savour, would send down
upon us his divine grace, the gift of his Holy Spirit.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Deacon. Let us pray unto the Lord, that we may be delivered
from all affliction, wrath, danger, and necessity.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us.

The Priest prays ivith a low voice:

O OUR God, the God of salvation, teach us worthily to return our
thanks to thee, for all the benefits which thou hast at any time
conferred, and dost still continue to confer upon us. O God,
who hast received these gifts, purge us from all filthiness of flesh
and spirit, and teach us so to perfect holiness in thy fear, that we
receiving these thy holy mysteries, with the testimony of a good
conscience, may be partakers of the most holy body and blood of
thy Christ; and that receiving them worthily, we may have
Christ dwelling in our hearts, and may become the temple of thy
Holy Spirit. But, O our God, make us not guilty either in soul
or body of thy tremendous, and heavenly sacrament, by our
unworthy receiving of it. But grant that to the end of our lives
we may worthily receive these means of sanctification, for a pass-

54 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

port to eternal life, and an acceptable plea at the dreadful tribunal
of thy Christ: that we, with all thy saints, who have pleased
thee from the beginning of the world, may be made partakers of
those good things which thou hast prepared for them who love thee.
Deacon. Receive, preserve, and have mercy upon us, &c. as
in St. Chrysostom.

The Priest with a loud voice :

And grant, O Lord, that we may boldly, and without blame,
presume to call upon thee, our heavenly God and Father, and say,
People. Our Father, &c.

With a loud voice :

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
Father, &c.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

Deacon. Bow down your heads to the Lord.

The Priest prays:

O ALMIGHTY Lord, Father of mercies, and God of all comfort,
bless, sanctify, keep, strengthen, and confirm those who have
bowed down their heads to thee ; turn them from every evil work,
and fit them for every good one ; and grant that they may
without blame partake of these immaculate and life giving
mysteries, for the remission of their sins, and the communion of
the Holy Spirit; with a loud voice: through the grace, mercy,
and loving kindness, of thine only begotten Son, with whom,
together with thy holy, good, and life giving Spirit ; blessed art
thou now, henceforth, and for evermore.

People. Amen,

The Priest prays :

DRAW near, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, from the habitation
of thy dwelling, and the throne of glory in thy kingdom, and
come and sanctify us, O thou who sittest on high at the right
hand of the Father, and at the same time art invisibly present
witli us here below; and vouchsafe to impart to us by thy mighty
hand, thine immaculate body, and most precious blood ; and by
us to all thy people.

Deacon. Let us draw near.

Priest. Holy things for holy persons.

Then the distribution.

THE

LITURGY OF ST. BASIL,

AS IT IS USED THROUGHOUT THE PATRIARCHATE OF
ALEXANDRIA.

Translated from the edition of Renaudotius , published in Greek and Latin, Paris, 1715.

The Priest with a loud voice :

THE Lord be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

Priest. Let us lift up our hearts.

People. We lift them up unto the Lord.

Priest. Let us give thanks unto the Lord.

People. It is meet and right.

Priest. It is meet and right, meet and right, it is indeed very
meet and right.

The beginning of the oblation.

O ALMIGHTY Lord, them God of truth, who existest from eternity,
and reignest for evermore, who dwellest on high, and from thence
beholdest the depths below : who hast made the heaven, the
earth, the sea, and all things which are therein. The Father of
our Lord, our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, by whom thou
madest all things both visible and invisible : who sittest upon the
throne of glory in thy kingdom, and art worshipped by all the
heavenly host.
^ Deacon. You who are sitting, rise up. )

Priest. Who art attended by angels and archangels, princi
palities and powers, thrones, authorities, and dominions.
( Deacon. Look towards the

56 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

The many eyed cherubim, and six winged seraphim, who
always praise thee, crying aloud, and saying,
^ Deacon. Draw near.^)

People. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth.

HOLY, holy, holy, art thou, O Lord our God, who didst form us,
and place us in a paradise of pleasure ; and when, over reached
by the subtlety of the serpent, we had transgressed thy commands,
and thereby forfeited our eternal life, and so were dispossessed of
that paradise of pleasure, thou didst not for ever cast us off; but
didst instruct us by thy prophets, and in the latter days appear to
us who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, by thine only
begotten Son, our Lord, our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Who became flesh, and was made man of the Holy Ghost, and
our holy lady the mother of God, and ever Virgin Mary. He
shewed unto us the way of salvation, regenerated us by water of
the Spirit, and adopted us a peculiar people to himself, sanctify
ing us by thy Holy Spirit. He so loved his own who were in
the world, that he gave himself a ransom to redeem us from death,
who had gotten the dominion over us, by whom we were held,
being bound by sin ; he by the cross descended into hell, and
rose again the third day from the dead ; he ascended into heaven,
and sat down at the right hand of thee his Father, having
appointed a day of retribution, when he will appear to judge the
world in righteousness, and to render to every man according to
his works.

People. According to thy mercy, O God, and not according to
our sins.

Priest. He has left to us this great mystery of godliness. For
when he was about to deliver up himself to die for the life of the
world ;

People. We believe.

Taking bread into his holy, spotless, and blessed hands, and
looking up to heaven to thee his Father, our God, and the God of
all : he gave thanks,

People. Amen.

He blessed it,

People. Amen.

He sanctified it,

People. Amen.

He brake it, and gave it to his holy disciples and apostles,

57

saying, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken and given for
you, and for many, for the remission of sins. Do this in remem
brance of rne.

Likewise the cup after supper ; and having mixed it with wine
and water, he gave thanks,

People. Amen.

He blessed it,

People. Amen.

He sanctified it,

People. Amen.

He tasted it, and then gave it to his holy disciples and
apostles, saying, Take, drink ye all of it ; this is my blood of the
New Testament which is shed for you, and fir many, for the
remission of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. For as often
as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye shew forth my death,
and confess my resurrection and ascension till my coming again.

People. Amen, Amen, Amen. We shew forth thy death,
O Lord, and confess thy resurrection, &c.

Priest. In remembrance therefore of his most holy sufferings,
his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, his
sitting down at the right hand of thee his God and Father, and
his glorious and terrible second appearance : we for all, through
all, and in all, offer to thee thine own, out of thine own gifts.

People. We praise thee, we bless thee.

Deacon. Bow down to the Lord with fear.

The Priest privately.

O merciful and good Lord, we thy sinful and unworthy servants
pray, beseech, and bow down ourselves to thee, that of thy
gracious goodness thou wilt send down thine Holy Spirit upon us
thy servants, and upon these gifts lying before thee, to bless them,
and make them the holy of holies.

Deacon. Attend.

People. Amen.

The Priest witli a loud voice.

That he may make this bread the holy body of our Lord, our
God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and life
everlasting, to all those who partake of it.

People. Amen.

58 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

Priest. And this cup the precious blood of our Lord, our God,
and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and life
everlasting, to all those who partake of it.

People. Amen. Lord, have mercy upon us, three times.

And make us worthy, O Lord, to partake of these holy
mysteries to the sanctificaticn of our souls, our bodies, and spirits,
that we may be one body, and one spirit, and may have our por
tion and lot with all thy saints who have pleased thee from the
beginning of the world.

Remember, O Lord, thy one, holy, Catholic Church ; grant it
peace, forasmuch as thou hast purchased it with the precious
blood of thy Christ.

In the first place, remember, O Lord, our holy father N. the
Archbishop, Pope, and Patriarch of the great city Alexandria ;
preserve him for the sake of thy Church in safety, honour, health,
long life, rightly dividing the word of truth, and feeding the
flock in peace.

Remember, O Lord, the presbyters, deacons, and other minis
ters ; all virgins, and other thy faithful people.

Remember us, O Lord, and have mercy upon all who are here
met together.

People. O God, Father Almighty, have mercy upon us.

Priest. O God Almighty, have mercy upon us, three times.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us, three times.

Priest. Remember, O Lord, this our city, and protect the
faithful who dwell therein.

Remember, O Lord, the temperature of the air, and the fruits
of the earth.

Remember, O Lord, seasonable showers, and a kindly seed
time.

Remember, O Lord, the overflowing of the river to its iust
height.

Renew and make glad the face of the earth; water its furrows;
increase its produce ; give us thereof what may be sufficient both
for seed and harvest, even in blessing bless it. Direct our lives,
crown the year with thy goodness, for the sake of the poor, the
widow, the fatherless, and the stranger; for the sake of all of us
who put our trust in thee, and call upon thy holy name; for the
eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them meat in due
season. Deal with us according to thy goodness, O thou who

ST. BASIL'S LITURGY. 59

givest food to all flesh. Fill our hearts with joy arid gladness,
that having in all things what is sufficient for the relief of our
necessities, we may abound in every good work, and do thy
holy will. ~

^People. Lord, have mercy upon us. )

Priest. Remember, O Lord, those who have offered these
precious gifts, for whom, and by whom, and for what ends they
have offered them unto thee, and recompence them with an
heavenly reward)^ Forasmuch as it is the command of thine only
begotten Son, that we should communicate to the memorial of
the saints; vouchsafe, O Lord, to remember those who have
pleased thee from the beginning of the world, the holy fathers,
patriarchs, apostles, prophets, preachers, evangelists, martyrs,
confessors, and all just spirits, departed in the faith of Christ.

Especially the most holy, immaculate, blessed above all, most
glorious lady, the mother of God, and ever Virgin Mary.

St. John, the glorious prophet, the forerunner of our Saviour,
me baptist and martyr.

St. Stephen, the first deacon and martyr.

And our holy and blessed father, Mark, the apostle and evan
gelist ; and our holy father, Basil, the worker of miracles.

The holy N. whom we this day commemorate ;)and all other
thy saints ; for the sake of whose prayers and intercessions have
mercy upon us, and save us for the sake of thy holy name, which
is called upon on our behalf.

The Deacon reads the dypticks.

REMEMBER also, O Lord, all those of the sacerdotal order, and
those of the laics who are already at rest ; grant rest to their
souls in the bosom of our holy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob ; gather them together in a green pasture, and lead them
forth beside the waters of comfort, in a paradise of pleasure,
far from all grief, sorrow, and mourning, in the glorious light of
thy saints.

After the dypticks, the Priest says,

Receive their souls, O Lord, grant them rest, and vouchsafe
them thine heavenly kingdom. But for us who remain upon
earth, keep us in thy faith, and bring us to thy kingdom ; give us
always thy peace, that in this, as well as other things, thy holy,

60 ST BASIL'S LITURGY.

glorious, and blessed name, may be hallowed, glorified, praised,
blessed, and sanctified, together with Jesus Christ, and the Holy
Ghost.

People. As was.

Deacon. Descend ye deacons.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

The preface before the breaking of the bread.

Let us give thanks to the Almighty God, the Father of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for that he has thought us worthy
to stand in this place, to lift up our hands, and minister unto his
holy name. Let us therefore beseech him, our Almighty Lord
and God, to make us worthy to communicate and partake of his
holy mysteries, the immaculate body, and precious blood of his
Christ.

Deacon. Pray ye.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

The prayer of St. Basil at the breaking of the bread.
O OUR God, the God of salvation, teach us worthily to return our
thanks to tliee for all the benefits which thou hast at any time
conferred, and dost still continue to confer upon us. O God,
who hast received these gifts, purge us from all filthiness of flesh
and spirit, and teach us so to perfect holiness in thy fear, that we
receiving these thy holy mysteries with the testimony of a good
conscience, may be partakers of the most holy body and blood
of thy Christ ; and that receiving them worthily, we may have
Christ dwelling in our hearts, and may become the temple of thy
Holy Spirit. But, O our God, make us not guilty, either in soul
or body, of this tremendous and heavenly sacrament by our
unworthy receiving of it. But grant that to the end of our lives
we may worthily receive these means of sanctification, for a pass
port to eternal life, and an acceptable plea at the dreadful tribunal
of thy Christ: that we, with all thy saints, who have pleased
thee from the beginning of the world, may be partakers of those
good things which thou hast prepared for those who love thee ;
and grant, O Lord, that we may boldly, and without blame,
presume to call upon thee, our heavenly God and Father, and
say,

People. Our Father which art in heaven, &c.

ST. BASIL'S LITURGY. 61

Priest. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for
evermore.

Deacon. Bow down your heads to the Lord.

The prayer at the bowing down the head.

O ALMIGHTY Lord, Father of mercies, and God of all comfort,
bless, sanctify, keep, strengthen, and confirm those who have
bowed down their heads to thee ; turn them from every evil work,
and fit them for every good one ; and grant that they may with
out blame partake of these immaculate and life giving mysteries,
for the remission of their sins, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit ; with a loud voice : through the grace, mercy, and loving
kindness of thine only begotten Son ; with whom, together with
thy holy, good, and life giving Spirit, blessed art thou, now,
henceforth, and for evermore.

Deacon. Draw near with fear.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

O SOVEREIGN Lord God, Father Almighty, the Physician of our
souls, our bodies, and our spirits, who said to Peter, the chief of
thy holy disciples and apostles, by the mouth of thine only
begotten Son our Lord, our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven : grant therefore that we
thy servants, my fathers and brethren, the priests and levites, and
all thy faithful people who humble ourselves before thy glory at
this holy time, and bear thy precious cross, may all be freed and
cleansed from our iniquities by my mouth, but through the
inspiration of thy holy, good, and gracious Spirit. Accept, O
God, the sincere repentance of thy servants for the sake of thy
Son, who takes away the sins of the world ; accept it for an
enlightening of our understandings, and an atonement for our
sins : for thou wiliest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he
be converted, and live. For thou art the Lord, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, and of great pity and truth; taking
away our transgression, our iniquities, and our sins. And if we
have offended thee either in word or deed, remit, pardon, and

62 ST. BASIL'S LITURGY.

forgive us, according to thy goodness and loving kindness. For
if thou art extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who
may abide it ? But with thee is gracious redemption, for thou
art the propitiation for our sins, the light and Saviour of our souls.
Deliver us, and all thy people, O God, from all manner of sin,
from apostacy and blasphemy, from evil speaking and cuising,
from magic and witchcraft, from idolatry and perjury, from
excommunication and schism, from the flying arrows, and the
groans of the just and the unjust; from all fellowship with
heretics or heathens. Give us, O Lord, the knowledge, the will
and courage to fly from our great adversary, and to do that which
is well pleasing unto thee. Write our names with those of all
thy saints in the kingdom of heaven, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, by whom and with whom, &c.

The Priest elevates the largest piece of the bread, and says
with a loud voice,

Holy things for holy persons.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us, thrice.

There is one Holy Father, one Holy Son, one Holy Ghost.

Priest. The Lord be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

Priest. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen.

People. Amen.

Priest. Peace be with you all.

People. And with thy spirit.

The Priest says this confession, or one of these sentences,
when he distributes the consecrated elements :

The holy body and precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. Amen.

People. Amen.

The holy precious body and true blood of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. Amen.

People. Amen.

This is, in truth, the body and blood of Emmanuel, our God.
Amen.

People. Amen.

THE

LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF ETHIOPIA,

A GREAT COUNTRY BEYOND EGYPT, SUBJECT TO THE PATRIARCH OF

ALEXANDRIA, SO FAR AS ALWAYS TO APPLY TO HIM FOR THE

CONSECRATION OF THEIR METROPOLITAN IN A VACANCY,

BUT WHICH IN OTHER MATTERS SEEMS TO

HAVE NO DEPENDENCY ON HIM.

Translated from the Ethiopia language into Latin, by Renaudotius, and published at
Paris, 1716. Vol. 1. p. 513.

WHEN the Priest mingles the water with the wine, he uses a
particular prayer, appointed to be said at that time.

Priest. The holy of holies, the holy of holies, the holy of holies,
the Lord be with you. We render thanks to thee, O Lord,
through thine only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, God,
and Saviour, whom thou sentest unto us in the last days : thy
Son, our Saviour and Redeemer, the Angel of thy counsel, the
Word, who proceeds from thee, and by whom thou madest all
things according to thy will.

Deacon. For our blessed and holy patriarch, Gabriel, or N.
and for our venerable father N. our metropolitan, who in their
prayers render praise and thanks to thee.

Through Stephen the proto-martyr, Zachary the priest, and
John the Baptist : through all the saints and martyrs, who are at
rest in the faith of Christ : through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John, the four evangelists: and through Mary, the moth'er of
God, hear us, O Lord. Through Peter, Andrew, James and
John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, Thaddseus
and Nathanael, James the son of Alpheus, and Matthias;
through these twelve apostles : through the apostle James, the

64 THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY.

brother of our Lord, and bishop of Jerusalem the sanctuary.-
through Paul and Timothy, Silas, Barnabas, Titus, Philemon,
and Clement ; the seventy-two disciples, their five hundred com
panions, and the three hundred and eighteen orthodox : may all
their prayers for us be accepted.

Remember also, O Lord, the Catholic and Apostolic Church,
which was founded in peace by the precious blood of thy Christ.
Remember likewise the patriarchs, metropolitans, bishops, priests,
and deacons, who have continued in the right way, and main
tained the truth.

People. Have mercy, O Lord, upon the souls of thy servants
and handmaids, who have eaten thy body, and drunk thy blood,
and are at rest in thy faith.

Priest. Again let us put up our prayers to the Almighty Lord,
the Father of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our God, and Saviour.
Remember, O Lord, the one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church, which is preserved from the one end of the world even
to the other.

Remember, O Lord, our father and patriarch N. and our
blessed metropolitan N. preserve him among us for many years,
and let his days be peaceful.

Remember, O Lord, the orthodox priest, deacons, and sub-
deacons.

Remember, O Lord, Lebna Dinghil, our king; preserve him to
us in peace.

O Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless thy
people, the society of beloved Christians, with heavenly blessings;
send down the grace of thy Holy Spirit upon us, and grant that
the gates of thy Church may be open to us, that we may obtain
thy mercy, and enjoy thy protection. Confirm us in the faith of
the Trinity to the last moment of our lives. O Jesus Christ, our
high priest, look upon the sick among thy people: be thou a
guide to our fathers and brethren who are travelling, and conduct
them to their own habitations in peace and health. Bless the
winds of the heavens, the rains, and this year's fruits of the earth,
according to thy goodness : may thy joy and gladness overspread
the face of the earth, and grant us thy peace.

Turn the hearts of powerful kings towards us for good : grant,
that the bishops of the holy Church, and all others according to
every one's name and station, may obtain favour in the sight of

THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY. 65

powerful kings : and, O Lord, make the princes who rule over
them, to be kind and gracious to them.

Give rest to our fathers and brethren, who are fallen asleep,
and departed from us in the orthodox faith : bless those who
take care of the incense, the bread of the oblation, the wine, the
oil, the veils, the books which are read in the Church, and the
vessels of the sanctuary, that Christ our God may conduct them
to the heavenly Jerusalem, and all those who are assembled with
us, and wait for the mercy of Christ our God. Have mercy
upon them, and upon all who have given us alms, when they
stand before thy dreadful tribunal, and be gracious unto them.
O our God, according to the multitude of thy mercies, save all
wTho are in trouble and affliction, all prisoners and captives, all
exiles, those who are carried away into slavery, and all who are
confined to bitter labours.

O Christ our God, remember all those in thy heavenly king
dom, O Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who have desired us to
remember them. O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine
heritage ; govern them, and lift them up for ever : preserve them
in the orthodox faith, and in good reputation all the days of their
life : fill their hearts with charity above all things : through the
prayers and supplications, which shall be offered in our behalf by
the lady of all, the holy and pure Mary, the mother of God:
through the prayers of the glorious inhabitants of heaven, Michael,
Gabriel, Raphael, and Suriel ; of the four incorporeal animals,
and the twenty-four priests of heaven; of St. John Baptist; of
our fathers the patriarchs, apostles, the seventy-two disciples, and
the three children : of St. Stephen, the chief of the deacons, St.
George, St. Theodorus, St. Mercurius, St. Menna, St. Philotheus,
St. Basilides, the holy father Nob, and all the martyrs : of our
great lord and holy father Anthony : of our holy fathers the three
Macarii, our father Bichoi, John, Cyrus, and Barsoma; of our
father Salama, John Kemi ; our righteous father Paul ; and of
the holy Greek fathers, Maximus, Demetrius, Moses the holy
father, and the forty martyrs ; and of our father Tecla Haimanoth ;
of our venerable father N. our patriarch ; of Claudius our king ;
of all the just and elect who are signed with the sign of the cross,
and of the angel of this holy day. Their prayers, blessings,
intercessions, and peace, and the love of God be with us for ever
and ever. Amen.

66 THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY.

Priest. Have mercy, O Lord, upon us, and upon all who are
at rest ; lliou, who sentest thy Son to be conceived in the womb
of a virgin

Deacon. You that are sitting, rise.

Priest. Thy Son was carried in the womb, made flesh, and
manifested by the Holy Spirit.

Deacon. Look to the East.

Priest. Thousands of thousands of holy angels and archangels
stand before thee.

Deacon. Let us attend.

Priest. The venerable creatures having six wings, seraphim
and cherubim, who with twain cover their faces, with twain their
feet, and with twain fly from one end of the world unto the other:
and as they always praise and sanctify thee, so do thou receive
these our lauds and thanksgivings, which we offer to thee, saying,
holy, holy, holy.

Deacon. Answer.

People. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and
earth are full of the holiness of thy glory.

Priest. Heaven and earth are indeed full of the holiness of thy
glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, with the Holy
Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. Thy holy Son, who came
down from heaven, and was born of a virgin, that he might
perform thy will, and establish an holy people unto thee.

Here the Priest shall lay his hands upon the censer, and
then extend them over the oblation.

People. According to thy mercy, O God, and not according to
our iniquities. And this is said thrice.

Priest. He extended his hands at his passion ; he suffered,
that he might release those from sufferings who trust in thee : of
his own free will he delivered himself up to suffer, that he might
destroy death, break the bonds of satan, and trample upon hell ;
that he might establish his testament, and manifest his resurrec
tion. In the same night in which he was betrayed, he took
bread into his holy, blessed, and immaculate hands ; he looked
up to heaven, to thee his Father ; he gave thanks, he blessed,
sanctified it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat ye all
of this ; this bread is my body, wThich is broken for you for
the remission of sins. Amen.

THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY. 67

People. Amen, Amen, Amen. We believe, and are certain ;
we praise thee, O Lord our God ; this is truly thy body, and so
we believe.

Priest. Likewise also he blessed and sanctified the cup of
thanksgiving, and said to them, Take, drink ye all of this ; this
is the cup of my blood, which shall be shed for you, for the
redemption of many. Amen.

People. Amen. This is truly thy blood, and we believe it.

Priest. And as often as ye do this, ye shall do it in remem
brance of me.

People. We shew forth thy death, O Lord: we believe thy
holy resurrection, thy ascension and second coming ; we beseech
thee, O Lord our God ; we believe this to be true.

Priest. And now, O Lord, celebrating the memorial of thy
death and resurrection, we offer to thee this bread and this cup ;
giving thanks to thee, that by them thou hast made us worthy to
stand before thee, and perform the priestly office unto thee. We
pray thee, O Lord ; we beseech thee to send down the Holy
Spirit and power upon this bread and upon this cup, that he may
make them both the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.

Priest. Thou hast mixed, &c. Grant, that all the partakers
thereof may by them obtain the sanctification and fulness of the
Holy Spirit, that their faith may be strengthened, that they may
sanctify thee with the Holy Spirit, through our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.

Deacon. Let us most fervently beseech our Lord God, that he
will be graciously pleased to grant us the good union of the Holy
Spirit.

Priest. Grant that we may be united in thy Holy Spirit, and
heal us by this oblation, that we may live with thee for ever and
ever. Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord ; blessed be he
that cometh in the name of the Lord ; and blessed be the name
of his glory. So be it, so be it, so be it. The people repeat the
same.

Priest. Send down the grace of thy Holy Spirit upon us.

Deacon. Rise up to prayer.

The Priest says the prayer at breaking the bread.
I HUMBLY give thanks to thee, O Lord my God, who reignest

68 THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY.

over the universe ; who sittest upon a throne of cherubim ; who
dwellest in the heights above, and art glorified in the depths
beneath ; thou, whose eternal habitation is in the glorious light
of thine own substance, hast condescended to acquaint us with
the hidden mystery of the cross. What God is merciful and holy,
like thee ? Thine is the power, which is not set at a distance
from us, for thou hast bestowed authority upon thy apostles, upon
those who serve thee with a sincere heart, and upon those who
offer sacrifices to thee for a sweet smelling savour, through Jesus
Christ our Lord and God. To him therefore, to thee, and to the
Holy Ghost, thanksgiving, glory, and praise, is due for ever and
ever. Amen.

Deacon. You who stand, bow down your heads.

Priest. O Lord, who sittest upon the cherubim, and beholdest
thy people and thine inheritance ; bless thy servants and hand
maids, and their children, and bestow upon every one, who with
a pure conscience shall partake of thy wonderful table, remission
of sins, which is always accompanied by thy Holy Spirit, that
they may be healed both in body and soul, and obtain the inheri
tance of the heavenly kingdom : through the grace and good plea
sure of thine only begotten Son, through whom, to thee, together
with him, and the Holy Ghost, be glory and power, now, and
for ever, and world without end. Amen.

The Sub-deacon and the people shall say : Hosts of angels
stand before the Saviour of the world, and surround the body and
blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: let us humbly
approach before his presence, and worship Christ with faith.

Deacon. Adore God and fear.

The Priest says the penitential prayer :

O ALMIGHTY Lord, who healest our souls and bodies, who by
the voice of thine only begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, God,
and Saviour, didst say to Peter our Father, Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it to shake it; and to thee will I give the
keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. May thy servants
therefore and handmaids be absolved by the mouth of the Holy
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and by the mouth of me

THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY. 69

a sinner, thy unworthy servant. O Lord our God, thou art he
who takest away the sins of the world ; accept the repentance of
thy servants and handmaids : let the light shine upon them ; and
forgive them their sins, for thou art good and gracious, O Lord
our God, long-suffering, of great mercy, and perfectly just.
Whatever we have sinned against thee, O Lord, in word, deed,
or thought, pardon, release, and forget, for thou art the gracious
lover of mankind. O Lord our God, grant absolution to us all,
and with us absolve all thy people.

Absolve, O Lord our Patriarch N. and our holy and blessed
Metropolitan N. and all patriarchs, bishops, priests, and deacons,
every one according to his name. Preserve them to us with
justice and peace; may their years be many, and their days
happy. Absolve, O Lord, our king from every bond of sin.

Remember, O Lord, all those who are fallen asleep and are at
rest in the faith of Christ ; conduct their souls into the bosom of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deliver us also from all sin and
wickedness ; from all apostacy and perjury, from all fellowship
with the perfidiousness of heretics and heathens. Give us courage
and understanding, that we may fly from all the works of Satan ;
grant that we may perform thy will at all times, write our names
in the kingdom of heaven, and record us with all the martyrs
and righteous persons : through Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom,
with him and the Holy Spirit, glory and power be unto thee,
now, and for ever, and world without end. Amen.

Deacon. Let us lift up our eyes.

Priest. Holy things for holy persons.

People. There is one Holy Father, one Holy Son, and one
Holy Ghost.

Priest. The Lord be with you.

People. And with thy Spirit.

Priest. O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon us. And this
is thrice repeated by the people.

Priest. The holy, precious, living, and true body of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, which is given for the remission of
sins and eternal life to all who receive it with faith. Amen. The
holy, precious, life-giving, and true blood of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, which is given for the remission of sins, and to
eternal life to all who receive it with faith. Amen. This is, in
truth, the body and blood of Emmanuel. Amen. I believe, I

70 THE ETHIOPIAN LITURGY.

believe, I believe, from this time forth, now, and for evermore.
Amen. This is the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, which he received of the Lady of us all, the holy and
pure Virgin Mary, and made it one with his Divinity, without
any commixtion or confusion, any division or alteration of the
Divinity. He witnessed a good confession in the days of Pontius
Pilate, and of his own free will delivered himself up for us upon
the wood of the holy cross. Amen. I believe, I believe, I believe,
that his Divinity was not separated from his humanity ; no, not
for an hour, or so much as the twinkling of an eye : he delivered
himself up for us, and purchased salvation, remission of sins, and
eternal life, for all who receive them with faith. Amen. I be
lieve, I believe, I believe, from this time forth, now, and for
evermore. Amen.

And after the Priest has communicated of the body of Christ,
he shall distribute the communion to the people, saying,

This is the bread of life, which came down from heaven, the
truly precious body of Emmanuel our God. Amen.

And he that receives shall say, Amen.

The Deacon shall give the cup, saying,

This is the cup of life, which came down from heaven, the
precious blood of Christ.

And he that receives shall say, Amen. Amen.

THI:

LITURGY OF NESTORIUS,

WHICH IS A LITURGY USED BY THE NESTORIAN HERETICS, A SECT

WHO REVOLTED FROM THE CHURCH BEFORE THE MIDDLE

OF THE FIFTH CENTURY, AND CONTINUE TO THIS

DAY IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE EAST.

Translated from the Syriac language into Latin, by Rcnaudotius, and published at
Paris, 1716. Vol. 2. p. 626.

PRIEST. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with
us all, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

Answer. Amen.

He signs the mysteries, and proceeds.

Lift up your minds to the highest heavens, the glorious and
awful region where the cherubim always upon the wing, and the
seraphim, never cease their grateful hymns and songs of praise.

Answer. We lift them up to thee, O God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel, thou King of glory.

He exalts his voice, lifts up his hands, and sings the third
canon, and then proceeds.

We offer to thee, the Lord and God of all, for all our fellow
creatures, a lively and reasonable oblation of our first fruits, the
unbloody and acceptable sacrifice of the Son of man, which the
prophets taught in mysteries, the apostles plainly, and the martyrs
became partakers of by their blood ; which our teachers have
explained to us, and our Priests offered and sacrificed upon the
holy altar, our levites carried in their arms, and the people com
municated of for the remission of their sins.

Ansiver. It is meet and right.

72 NESTORIUS'S LITURGY.

Deacon. Call to mind the wonderful purpose of Christ our
Saviour, which he accomplished for us, and by his resurrection
raised us from our fears; stand therefore reverently and pray:
peace be with you all.

Priest. O Lord God Almighty, grant that with sure confidence
we may stand before thee.

And goes on, bowing down, and with a low voice :
For it is meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should
praise, confess, adore, and magnify thee, O powerful Lord, self-
existing, eternal, God the Father Almighty, who art the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For thou art the true God,
incomprehensible, infinite, ineffable, invisible, uncreated, un
searchable, immortal, most highly exalted above the knowledge
or most enlarged conceptions of thy creatures ; who art in every
place, not circumscribed by place thyself, thou, thine only
begotten Son, and Holy Spirit. Instruct us, O Lord, how to
open our mouths before thee, that with a contrite heart, and
humble spirit, we may offer to thee the fruits of our lips, our
reasonable service : for thou art our God, and Father of our Lord,
our King and Saviour Jesus Christ, our Hope, in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and through whom
we have received the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
Truth, who proceeded from thee the Father, and is from the
hidden nature of thy godhead. It is he who confirms, sanctifies,
and makes perfect all rational beings, whether visible or invisible;
who at all times, forasmuch as all of them are the work of thy
hands, offer to thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, their continual
praises ; for thou didst create and bring us out of nothing into
being: we transgressed thy command, and fell ; thou didst again
renew in us what was impaired by age : thou didst raise us up
again, reclaim us, and visit us with thy providential care, till thou
broughtest us to heaven, and in thy mercy gavest us an inheritance
in thy kingdom to come. And for this thy goodness towards us,
we give thanks to thee, O God the Father, and to thine only
begotten Son, and Holy Spirit; and adore thee for all the benefits
which thou hast vouchsafed unto us, those we know, and those
we know not, both open and private. We give thee thanks like
wise for this ministry, beseeching thee to receive it from our
hands : but, who is able to tell of the greatness of thy power, and

NESTORIUS'S LITURGY. 73

shew forth all thy praise ? for if all thy creatures were one mouth,
and one tongue, they would not he able to express thy majesty.

People. For before thee, three persons, hut one God, stand
thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousands of
angels, who never rest, but for ever flying with loud uninterrupted
voices sing, rejoice, crying out and answering one to another,
holy, holy, holy, &c.

The Priest bowing very low, says,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, who fillest heaven and earth.

Bowing doivn, he says this prayer with a low voice :

WITH those heavenly powers we, O good and gracious Lord
God, cry out, and say, Thou art truly holy, to be glorified,
magnified, and exalted ; who hast vouchsafed to make thy
worshippers on earth like unto those who glorify thee in heaven.
Holy also is thine only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with
the Holy Ghost, who existed with thee from eternity, partaker of
thy nature, and the maker of all things. We bless, O Lord God,
the Word, the Son of thy bosom, who being thy likeness, and the
express image of thy person, thought it no robbery to be equal to
thee ; yet so humbled himself, that he took upon him the form of
a servant, a perfect man, of a reasonable, intelligent, and immor
tal soul, and a mortal human body subsisting, and joined him
passible in his own nature, and united him to himself in glory,
power, and honour. He was formed by the power of the Holy
Ghost for the salvation of all ; was made of a woman, and under
the law, that he might redeem those who were tinder the law,
that all who died in Adam, might live in him : he destroyed sin
in his own flesh, and abrogated the precepts of the law by
precepts of his own : he opened the eyes of our understanding,
which before were darkened, and made plain the way of salvation,
enlightening us by his divine knowledge. To those who received
him, he gave the liberty to become the sons of God. He washed
and cleansed us by the baptism of water, and sanctified us by
his grace through the gifts of the Holy Spirit; and, according to
his promise, raised, exalted, and placed with himself in heaven,
those who were buried with him in baptism. And loving his
own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end, and
underwent for them the punishment due to our sins, giving him-
L

74 NESTORIUS'S LITURGY.

self to die for all whom death had dominion over; whose servants
we were, having by our sins subjected ourselves to him ; those
he redeemed and saved by his most precious blood : he descended
into hell, and loosed the bonds of devouring death. And because
it was not fitting that the Captain of our salvation should be held
there by death, he rose again the third day, and became the first
fruits of them that slept, that he might be the first in all things;
he ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of thy
majesty, O God. And he left to us a memorial of our salvation,
even this mystery which we offer unto thee. For when the time
drew near in which he was delivered up for the life of the world,
after the Paschal Supper of the law of Moses, he took bread into'
his holy, spotless, and undefiled hands; he blessed, and brake it;
he eat of it, and gave to his disciples, saying, Take eat ye all of
this : this is my body which is broken for you, for the remission
of sins. In like manner he mixed the cup with wine and water
arid blessed it ; he drank of it, and gave it to his disciples, saying'
Drink ye all of it : this is my blood of the New Testament which
is shed for many for the remission of sins : do this in remembrance
of me until my coming again; for as oft as ye eat of this bread,
and drink of this cup, ye do shew forth my death till my coming
again. Grant, therefore, that whoever shall come near with a
true faith, and partake of them, they may, O Lord, be to him for
the pardon of his offences, the remission of his sins, a lively hope
of a resurrection from the dead, to a new life in the kingdom of
heaven.

People. And we will return praise, honour, thanksgiving, and
adoration to thee, O invisible Father, and to thy glorious Son
and to thy living, holy, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth]
and for evermore.

He signs the mysteries. The Deacon says,
Behold, with the eye of an enlightened understanding, and a
pure obedient mind, the meekness, humility, and obedience of
Christ our Saviour. Let us look and see the only begotten Son
of the Father led forth to his passion on the cross.
Deacon. Let us pray : Peace be with us.

The Priest says this prayer :

O our Lord, and God, restrain our thoughts, that they wander
not upon the vanities of this world.

NESTORIUS'S LITURGY. 75

The Priest bowing doivn, says this prayer with a low voice :

WE, O Lord God, Almighty Father, have in remembrance this
command, and the salvation which was wrought for us : above
all things, we believe and confess thee, O God the Father, and
the eternal and only begotten Son of thy godhead, who is of thee,
and con-substantial with thee ; his admirable purpose, which
was effected ihrough our human nature, and applied to our
salvation; his cross and passion; death and burial; his resurrec
tion the third day, and ascension into heaven ; the sitting down
at thy right hand, and the second and glorious coming again of
our Lord Jesus Christ ; in which he shall judge both the quick
and the dead, and render to every man according to his works.
We confess likewise the Holy Ghost, who is of the glorious
substance of thy godhead, and with thee and thine only begotten
Son worshipped and glorified. We offer to thee this lively, holy,
acceptable, excellent, and unbloody sacrifice, for all thy creatures;
and for thy holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which is spread
over the face of the whole earth ; that thou wilt preserve it in
peace, free from scandal, without blemish, spot, wrinkle, or the
like: for thou hast promised by thine only begotten Son our
Lord Jesus Christ, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. And for all bishops, of whatever place or country, who
rightly preach the word of sound faith. And for all priests who
execute their priestly office before thee in righteousness and true
holiness. And for all deacons who keep the mystery of thy faith
in a pure conscience. And for all conditions of thy pious and
holy people, wheresoever they be. And for all who have know
ingly or ignorantly sinned, and offended against thee. And for
thy sinful and unworthy servant, whom, through thy grace, thou
hast thought worthy to offer this sacrifice unto thee. And for
all who are praise- worthy, and adorn thy Church by works of
righteousness And for all who bestow their charity on the poor.
And for all faithful kings, and the establishment of their kingdom.
And for all princes and potentates in the world. We pray and
beseech thee, O Lord, to preserve them in thy fear, confirm them
in thy truth, and subject all barbarous nations unto them. We
beseech, O Lord, thy divine majesty, that thou wilt make wars to
cease in all the world, and scatter those nations that delight
therein, that we may live peaceably and quietly in all temperance

76 NESTORIUS'S LITURGY.

and fear of thee. And for the fruits of the earth, and the tempera
ture of the air, that the year may be crowned with thy goodness.
And for this and all other countries, and those that dwell in
them, that thou wilt have mercy upon them, and bless, keep, and
protect them, through thy tender mercy. And for all who travel
by land or by water. And for all who are in bonds, distresses,
persecutions, or oppressions for thy name's sake. And for all
who are in banishment, tribulation, imprisoned in remote islands
for a perpetual punishment, or condemned to hard slavery. And
for all our brethren who are in captivity. We beseech thee also,
O Lord, to comfort and relieve all who are grieved with pain or
sickness. And we commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all our
enemies, all who hate us, and all who imagine evil against us ;
we commend them to thee not for judgment and vengeance, but
for pity, salvation, and the remission of their sins ; because thou
wiliest that all should be converted to the knowledge of thy
truth, and live For thou hast taught us by thy beloved Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, that we should pray for our enemies, for
those that hate us, and those that despitefully use us, and
persecute us.

People. Therefore, O Lord, whatsoever we have committed as
mortal men, and thereby sinned against thee, remit, pardon, take
away, and spare, O good God, who in mercy governest all things:
that being at unity amongst ourselves, we may render to thee
praise, honour, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, henceforth, and
for evermore.

TJie Priest signs himself. And the Deacon says :
Lift up your eyes on high, and look with the eyes of your
understanding. Intreat and beseech Christ our Saviour to perfect
his spiritual grace in us ; and in your minds pray that his peace
may be with us all.

The Priest says this prayer :

0 LORD GOD, full of pity, compassion, and long-suffering; since

1 who am vile dust, a miserable sinner, poor and weak, guilty
before thee, an alien, and a transgressor even from my mother's
womb, have presumed to speak before thee. Have mercy upon
me, O Lord, according to thy mercy ; bring me out of the sea of
my transgressions through thy pity, and out of the ocean of my

NESTORIUS'S LITURGY. 77

siiis through thy loving kindness : thou, who art the strengthened
and restorer of health, heal the ulcers of mine iniquities, and the
stripes of mine offences. Grant that I may open my mouth, and
make me worthy to move my lips before thee. Grant that I may
offer an atonement for my misdeeds, and that I may obtain
remission of my sins, the pardon of mine offences, and the
blotting out of mine own blemishes, and those of all who like me
have offended against thee. Grant that I may ask of thee those
things, which are proper for me to ask and thee to give : for thou
hast an inexhaustible treasure which can never fail ; and at all
times divers petitions are offered up to thee, and thine innumerable
benefits accordingly bestowed. Be not angry with me, O thou
who art good and gracious, because I cannot presume to say
these things with confidence before thy majesty ; but accept me,
that I may dare to do it, because thy great name is called upon
on my behalf. Accept this sacrifice from my hands for thy
people, and the sheep of thy pasture ; so shall I give thanks to
thy name, and pay my adoration to thy majesty, O Lord of all.

The Priest bows down, and says this prayer ivitlia low voice:

O LORD, mighty God, with blessings and adorations we beseech
thee to convert those who are gone out of the way, to give light
to those who are in darkness, to strengthen the weak, to raise up
those who are fallen, to confirm those who stand, and through thy
tender mercies to grant to them those things which are useful
and profitable for them. We likewise pray and beseech thee, O
Lord, through this oblation, to be mindful of our forefathers,
patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, teachers, bish
ops, priests, deacons, and all others who have been partners in
our ministry, and are gone before us ; and all our brethren in
Christ who are departed this life in the true faith, whose names
thou knowest ; and to remit, and pardon, through the petitions
and intercessions of those who have pleased thee, all the sins and
offences committed against thee: look down, and have mercy
upon us, and all thy servants who approach thy altar; make us
worthy to be partakers of the portion and inheritance of thy saints
in light, and grant that during our pilgrimage in this world, we
may live in perfect charity, and purity of thought, having a perfect
knowledge of true faith in thee, and communicating of thy holy
and tremendous mysteries ; that when we shall stand before the

78 NESTORIUS'S LITURGY.

awful throne of thy majesty, we may not be confounded or
condemned. And as thou hast made us worthy the ministry of
thy holy and tremendous mysteries in this life, grant that in that
which is to come we may be partakers of those good things which
neither pass away, nor perish ; and that when thou shalt put an
end to those things which we here behold as through a glass,
darkly, we may then enjoy the holy of holies in heaven. We
therefore, O Lord, thy vile, frail, and sinful servants, who were
alienated from thee, but through thy great goodness made worthy
to stand and administer before thee this tremendous, glorious,
and excellent ministry, likewise implore thine adorable godhead,
the renewer of all creatures,

That the grace of thine Holy Spirit, O Lord, may come down,
dwell, and rest upon this sacrifice which we offer unto thee, that
it may sanctify and make it, viz., this bread, and this cup, the
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, changing and sanctify
ing them by thine Holy Spirit ; that the partaking of these holy
mysteries may be to all who receive them the means of everlasting
life, of a resurrection from the dead, the purifying of body and
soul, the enlightening of the understanding, of confidence towards
thee, and of eternal salvation, which thou hast promised us by
Jesus Christ our Lord ; that we may be mutually joined together
in love, by one band of charity and peace, and that we may be
one body, and one spirit, as we are called in one hope of our
calling. Nor let any one eat or drink of it to the condemnation
of his body and soul ; nor let it be to any one, by reason of his
sins, the cause of diseases or infirmity, because he eat of the
bread, arid drank of the cup unworthily : but strengthen and
comfort him in all things which are well pleasing unto thee, that
so with a pure conscience we may be worthy to communicate of
the body and blood of thy Christ; that when we shall be called
to stand at thy awful and glorious tribunal, before the throne of
thy majesty, we may find pity and favour, and may enjoy the
gocd things to come, and which pass not away, with all those
who have pleased thee from the beginning of the world, through
the grace and mercy of thine only begotten Son ; to whom with
thee, and thy living, holy, and life-giving Spirit, be glory, honour,
power, and praise, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

Here is a break in this Liturgy, which the Editor says is to he

NESTORIUS'S LITURGY. 79

supplied from another Neslorian Liturgy, called the Liturgy
of the Apostles.

O LORD, let thy quiet dwell amongst us, and thy peace in our
minds; let our tongue shew forth thy truth ; let thy cross be the
preserver of our souls ; for we make our mouths new harps, and
sing with inflamed lips ; grant, O Lord, that with confidence
through thee, we may pronounce before thee that pure and holy
prayer, which thy life-giving mouth taught thy holy disciples,
saying : When ye pray, say : Thus praying, giving thanks, say
ing, and answering ;

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c.

Here is another break, from this place till after the sacred
Elements are distributed, to be supplied from the foremen-
Honed Liturgy,

THE

LITURGY OF SEVERUS,

PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH, IN THE LATTER END OF THE FIFTH, AND
BEGINNING OF THE SIXTH CENTURY.

Translated from the Latin Version, as published by Renaudotius amongst his other Versions
oftheSyriac Liturgies. Printed at Paris, 1716.

Priest. Peace be with you.
People. And with thy Spirit.
Priest. Lift up your hearts.
People. We lift them up unto the Lord.
Priest. Let us give thanks unto God.
People. It is meet and right so to do.

The Priest bowing down :

What thoughts can we conceive, or what power of speech can
we attain to, whereby to render the glory which is due to thee,
O King of kings, and God of all ! Who hast created the heavenly
hosts, endued them with understanding, and made every intelli
gent being ; who hast compounded man of what is visible and
what is invisible, and made him capable of all excellency, even
thy Divine image ; that there might be none of the works of thy
hands which might not partake of thy grace ; that the very dust
may become happy in the contemplation of thy glory, and be
enriched with those good things which the angels enjoy : that we
may confess and admire thee the Creator in all thy works, and
with profound silence honour thee. Lifting up his voice : For
troops of angels and archangels, ordained of old ; the thrones
long since established, firm and immovable ; the powers, the
principalities, the magisterial hosts, the highest dominions, the

SEVERUS'S LITURGY. 81

spirits of the just, the church of the first-born written in heaven,
the many-eyed cherubim, the six-winged seraphim, those beings
of most exalted knowledge : trembling before thine invisible and
incomprehensible Deity, turning to one another, and contempla
ting the invisible and incomprehensible vision, praise thee, extol
thee, lift up their voices, and say the hymn to the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.

People. Holy, holy, holy.

The Priest bowing down :

For who is able to shew forth thy power, and tell of all thy
praise ? Thou art indeed truly holy, God the Father, from whom
all things derive their original ; and thy Son, who was begotten
of thee, equal in wisdom, co-eternal, con-substantial, not born in
time, but in the same degree of honour with God. Holy also is
thy most holy, life-giving, and sanctifying Spirit, who proceeded
from thee the Father, without beginning, from eternity. Where
fore all the heavenly hosts glorify thee, thine only begotten Son,
and Holy Spirit, for thou art Trinity in Unity. But who is able
to search out the depths of thy love towards mankind, who, after
we had transgressed thy command, didst suffer God the Word
thine only begotten Son, and the brightness of thy glory, to
become the purchaser and disposer of our salvation? Who,
according to thy good pleasure, and voluntary purpose, took upon
himself the ransom for us, and was incarnate of the blessed
Mother of God, and ever Virgin Mary, who was sanctified by
the Holy Ghost : he was conceived, and born, and made in all
things like unto us, of body, soul, and spirit : he took upon him
the whole of man, and through his meritorious propitiation opened
for us the way to heaven.

The Priest lifting up his voice :

Who has left us a memorial of his saving passion and cross,
when he was about to heal our sins, and to make an oblation of
himself for us to thee, O God and Father : he took bread into his
hands, and lifting them up to heaven, he blessed +, sanctified -f-,
brake -f, and gave it to his disciples and apostles, saying ; Take,
eat, for this is my body which is broken and given for you, and
for many, unto eternal life.

People. Amen.
M

82 SEVERUS'S LITURGY.

Priest. In like manner after supper he took the cup, and
mixing it with wine and water -f, he gave thanks -f-, and
sanctified it +, and gave it to his disciples and apostles, saying,
Take, drink ye all of it : this is my blood of the New Testament
which is shed for you, and for many, and given for the remission
of sins. Do this in remembrance of me ; for as oft as ye eat of
this bread, and drink oi this cup, ye shew forth my death.

People. We celebrate, O Lord, the memorial of thy death.

Priest. We therefore, O Lord Jesu, offer this unbloody
sacrifice, and implore thy pity towards mankind, which induced
thee to give thyself a sacrifice for us. We are mindful also of
thy second, glorious, and dreadful appearance, when thou shalt
sit highly exalted upon thy awful throne, encompassed with
thousand thousands of angels ; and a stream of fire shall break
forth and miserably destroy the wicked : when all men shall give
an account of their works, and there shall be no occasion for an
accuser or an advocate, but the very works which they have done
shall be made manifest, their own consciences accusing or else
excusing them : when every man's work shall be tried by fire,
and the wise and learned shall not be able to offer any thing in
their defence ; but in that time of terror, fear and dread shall fall
upon the rational part of the creation, and every mouth shall be
stopped, and confusion seize the foolish and the ungodly ; their
fathers and brethren shall give them no assistance, nor their pity
and compassion avail them any thing : when vengeance, without
mercy, shall overtake them who have not shewed mercy. In
that day turn not thy face from us, nor give up thine inheritance
to eternal torments. Make us not heirs of darkness where there
is no light, nor alienate us from thy fellowship ; do not deny us,
and say, I know you not ; set us not on the left hand with those
who saw thfce hungry, and fed thee not ; sick, and visited thee
not : but acknowledge us, and number us with those who have
done thy will. For these things thy people, thine inheritance,
make their supplication to thee, and by thee to thy Father.

The invocation of the Holy Ghost.

Priest. Have mercy upon me, O God, Father Almighty, and
have respect to the groans and sighs of thy people ; but regard
not, O Lord, the impurity of my lips, the foulness of my tongue,
or the wickedness of my heart, but receive upon thy spiritual and

SEVERUS'S LITURGY. 83

super- celestial altar this sacrifice for a sweet smelling savour,
and send down from thine holy habitation the Paraclete, thy
Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who spake in the law, the
prophets, and apostles ; who is every where present, and fills all
things ; who through his own power works sanctification in all
who are worthy of it.

Priest. Hear me, O Lord.

People. Lord, have mercy upon us, three times.

Priest. Send him down upon us, and upon these offerings, and
sanctify them; that this bread may be made the life-giving,
heavenly, saving body, both of our souls and bodies, even the
body of our Lord, our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins and everlasting life, to all those who partake of
it; and the mixture in this cup, the blood of the New Testament,
the life-giving, saving blood, even the blood of our Lord, our
God, and King of all, Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and
everlasting life to all those who partake of it.

The Priest goes on :

O Lord, forasmuch as these gifts are consecrated through thy
grace and power ; grant unto all those who shall partake of them,
that througli their hardness, and impenitent heart, none may be
denied access to these mysteries ; but that all may be converted
and disposed according to thy good pleasure : for thou art he
who dost make, turn, and order all things for good. Ingraft in
our hearts the fear of thee, the hope of eternal life ; and we will
return glory to thee, and thine only begotten Son.

The Priest bowing down :

Through the abundance of thy grace, O Lord, we are made
worthy of this heavenly sacrament, and have a sure confidence,
that whatever we ask of thee, thou wilt give it us. We beseech
thee to be mindful of the Catholic Church, wheresoever dispersed,
and to preserve it in good works, and the observance of thy com
mands. Be mindful, O Lord, of the orthodox bishops, priests,
and deacons, especially those who are here present, and join in
our prayers. Be mindful, O Lord, of me a sinner: grant that I
may be sensible how great an honour it is to stand before thy
holy altar ; and take from me whatever may seem pleasing to a
weak and childish mind, lest it may be grievous to me at the

84 SEVERUS'S LITURGY.

terrible day of accounts. Deliver me from every evil work, and
destroy me not in mine iniquities ; be not angry with me for ever,
nor treasure up vengeance for me ; but shew me thy loving kind
ness ; and although I am unworthy of them, save me according
to thy mercies, that I may glorify thee always unto my life's end.

Lifting up his voice :

Preserve thy holy Church, which is spread from one end of the
earth unto the other, in purity of doctrine ; that as it is the body
of thy Christ, it may be united to its head. Purge our souls from
all ungodliness and error, which has its rise from the devil.
Drive far off all who work wickedness for reward, and blot out
the stains which have been caused by heresy, that thy name may
not be blasphemed among the Gentiles. Guard thy Church from
the heresies which are already sprung up in it, and disperse them
without its pale ; forget not the body of priests in thy Church,
lest it be wickedly torn in pieces : but remember all the orthodox,
and be mindful of thy promise, for we are brought very low.
But help us, O God our Saviour, for the glory of thy name, for
we will render thee glory and praise.

The Priest bowing down :

Remember, O Lord, all who have in any respect been beneficial
to us, and recompence them with a plentiful reward : remember
also, all who relieve the poor, who entertain strangers, who
communicate to the necessities of the saints, and who offer
liberally of their good fruits. Recompence them all in the day of
thy just judgment. Remember likewise, O Lord, those who have
this day presented their offerings, and those for whom they were
presented, and those who intended to do the same.

Lifting up his voice :

Be, O Lord, a comfort to the widows, and a refuge to the
orphans ; a support to the aged, and a guide to the youth ; an
helper to those who suffer injuries, and a deliverer to those who
are vexed with evil spirits. Have mercy upon those who labour
under pain or weakness ; release those who are any wise perse
cuted or oppressed. Make straight the crooked, and raise up them
that fall ; suffer us not to sleep the sleep of sin, which leadeth to

SEVERUS'S LITURGY. 85

eternal death ; but cleanse us by tears and repentance, and we
will give thee glory.

The Priest bowing down :

Remember, O Lord, all orthodox kings, and grant peace to the
earth, and to all things therein, that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life, free from contention and trouble.

Lifting up his voice :

Give peace through thine excellent power to all faithful kings
who love it, and to all orders of men who minister in, and oppose
the enemies of, the kingdom of thy Christ ; unite them, and make
them as one family ; bring them to the fear of thee, and kindle in
them a zeal for the true faith, that they may govern thy Churches
in peace : for thou art a God who wiliest mercy ; and to thee be
glory.

The Priest bowing down :

Remember, O Lord, those who from the beginning of the
world have been exemplary in thy sight, our forefathers, prophets,
apostles, martyrs, confessors, John the Baptist, Stephen the
deacon, the holy mother of God, and all pious and just men.

Lifting up his voice ;

Grant, O Lord, that we may live as becomes the saints thy
friends, and make us worthy the portion of those who have been
initiated in thy divine mysteries. Impart to us that doctrine of
the apostles, which affords a spiritual nourishment to those who
receive it with faith ; for thou art the helper of the poor, and the
relief of the needy, who dost dispense to thy creatures the means
of life, and by many wrays effect their preservation : thou every
day openest thine hand, which is sufficient for all ; and of thy
goodness fillest all things living. Deliver us also, O Lord, from
all evil, and from the slaughters common in this world; turn from
all thy creatures wrath and punishment, and we will give thee
glory, &c.

The Priest bowing down :

Remember, O Lord, all bishops and pastors who have stood up
in thy Church, and fed thy spiritual sheep with their doctrines,

86 SEVERUS'S LITURGY.

converting those who had gone out of the way ; but more
especially St. Jarnes the chief of bishops, and other holy fathers.

Lifting up his voice :

O thou, who art the shepherd, and dispenser of divine know
ledge ; make glad, with the light of thy countenance, the wise
messengers of glad tidings, the mysteries of the true faith, the
bright stars that gave light to thy people sitting in darkness, the
founders of churches, the interpreters of the divine law, and the
guardians of the flock which was purchased by the blood of thine
only begotten Son ; and preserve in holiness us who follow their
steps, and emulate their sufferings. Pour on us a never failing
stream of their doctrines, and make us worthy the vocation unto
which we are called. Preserve us from all heretical opinions,
and from the pits and snares of those who fear not thee ; that in
the last day, when sentence shall be pronounced, we may have
our place assigned us in the company of our fathers, and be
numbered amongst them, and we will give thee glory.

Tlie Priest lowing down :

Remember, O Lord, the priests, deacons, sub-deacons, readers,
singers, expounders, confessors, monks, and those who have
vowed perpetual virginity : give them courage, and a becoming
modesty ; and remember all conditions of men who are departed
in Christ, and for whom these oblations are offered.

Lifting up his voice :

Give rest, O Lord, to the bodies, souls, and spirits of all who
from flesh and blood have made their way to thee the Lord of all
flesh, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a paradise
of pleasure, in a place of rest, in the tabernacle of thy saints, in
the company of those who keep the most solemn feast, where life
is perfect, free from trouble, and where they may enjoy the first
fruits of those unspeakable good things which thou hast promised-
make them worthy of a full enjoyment of them, not imputing to
them their sins, nor entering into judgment with thy servants ;
for in thy sight no flesh can be justified. For our Lord and God
Jesus Christ, thine only begotten Son, was the only person who
was ever united to a body of flesh, and entirely subdued all the

SEVERUS'S LITURGY. 87

sinful lusts thereof, so as to leave no room for them to take hold
of him; through whom we also hope, &c.

The Priest bowing down :

So direct, O Lord, and prepare us in this life for the meeting
of thine only begotten Son, that when he shall come with his
holy angels in the glory of thee his father, to gather together his
saints ; we may not, through the fondness we have to our passions,
or the burthen of our sins which we have committed, be let or
hindered when his elect shall be taken up to meet him in the air.
Grant that with them we also may sing the triumphal hymns,
and with glory and praise say, Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord ; that in this, as well as all other things, thy
name may be praised and glorified, &c.

The Priest breaks the bread, and signs it :

Deacon. Again and again.

Priest. O Lord Almighty, whose name is great : O Lord, who
art the author of all things, even our thoughts ; who, when we
were strangers to the covenants of thy promises, and aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, didst bring us to the knowledge of
them ; and lead us, who were not worthy to knock at the door,
into the inmost recesses of thy sanctuary, which the very angels
desire to look into : purify and sanctify our minds, and grant,
that laying aside all worldly thoughts and the cares of this world,
we may seek thy kingdom and thy righteousness ; and, as thou
hast commanded us, with a pure heart, may repeat and say this
prayer :

Our Father, which art in heaven, fyc.

O Lord, who sufferest none to be tempted above that he is
able, but with the temptation makest a way to escape, that he
may bear it ; deliver us from all temptation, which it may be
difficult to avoid, and from the works and spoils of the wicked
one, through Christ Jesus our Lord; with whom glory be to
thee, &c.

Priest. Peace be with you.

People. And with thee.

Priest. O God, who hast so loved us, and given us the right of
adoption of sons ; so that we should be called the sons of God,
heirs of thee, O Father, and joint heirs with thy Christ : incline

88 SEVERUS'S LITURGY.

thine ear, O Lord, and hear us, who bow down our heads to thee,
and purify our inward man, even as thine only begotten Son,
whom we are about to receive, is pure. Let fornication, and all
unclean thoughts, be far from us, in the name of God, who was
born of a virgin. Let pride and high-mindedness be driven
away by him who humbled himself; cowardice, by him vvho
suffered in the flesh, and triumphed over the cross : let vain glory
be mortified by him who was beaten and scourged, and turned
not away his face from them who despitefully spit upon him : let
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, take
from us all envy, manslaughter, dissension, and hatred : let anger
and wrath be removed from us by him, who put to shame our
enemy the devil at his crucifixion, and blotted out the hand
writing of our iniquities. Take from us all earthly thoughts
through him who has taken us up with himself into heaven, that
being pure, we may communicate of this most pure sacrament ;
and being thoroughly sanctified in body, soul, and spirit, we may
render glory to thee, &c.

Priest. Peace be with you.

People. And with thy spirit.

Priest. The blessing of the Lord be with you.

Deacon. With fear and reverence.

People. And with thee also.

Priest. Holy things for holy persons,

SOME FRAGMENTS

OF THE GOTHIC, OR GOTHICO-GALLICAN MISSAL ; COLLECTED FROM
SEVERAL GOTHICO-GALLICAN OFFICES.

Published from an old manuscript in the Queen of Sweden's library, by Mabillon, at Paris, 1685.

This Missal tms used in Spain, and in those Churches of Gallia that were under the

Government oj the Goths.

The Sunday Mass. Office 79. pp. 297, 298.

HEAR, O Lord, the prayers of those that offer to thee ; receive
their votvs, and forgive their sins: and through the intercession
of thy saints, grant refreshment in the region of the living to those
that are dear to us, and are asleep in Christ.

It is meet and right, just and right, that we should always,
here, and every where give thanks unto thee, holy Lord, Almighty
Father, eternal God : who in thy goodness art our Father, whilst
in thy power thou continuest our Lord : for those whom nature
had made servants, thou didst vouchsafe to adopt thy sons : and
whom their earthly generation had overwhelmed in death, the
heavenly regeneration hath raised to life : for all the angels praise
thee, O Almighty God.

After the Sanctus, or the hymn that begins, Holy, holy,
holy, fyc.

Thou art truly holy, truly our Lord God, blessed in the
highest : through whom we humbly beseech thee, that thou wilt
graciously behold this oblation, which we offer to thee for the
faith, stability, and concord of the holy Catholic Church, for
purification from wickedness, and remission of sins ; and that in
beholding thou mayest bless it, and in blessing sanctify it,
through thy holy and blessed Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who
the evening before.

N

90 FRAGMENTS.

The Mass for the day called the chair of St. Peter. Office
20. pp. 227, 228.

We therefore observing these his commandments, offer unto
thee the holy gift of our salvation. Beseeching thee, that thou
wouldst vouchsafe to send thy Holy Spirit upon these solemn
mysteries, that they may become to us a true eucharist in the
name of thee, and of thy Son, and of thy Holy Spirit, that they
may confer eternal life and an everlasting kingdom on us, who
are going to eat and drink of them in the transformation of the
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, thine only 'begotten
Son.

The Mass on the Eve of the Epiphany. Office 10. p. 207.

So descend upon this oblation, that it may be a medicine of
health to the living, and give refreshment to the departed.

The Mass for the day called the chair of St. Peter. Office
20. p. 228.

Being taught by a divine master, and formed by a divine
institution, we are bold to say. Our Father, &c.

SOME FRAGMENTS

OF THE ANCIENT GALLICAN MISSAL, WHICH WAS USED IN ALL THE
CHURCHES OF GAUL AND BRITAIN, BEFORE THE GOTHS CONQUERED
ANY PARTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE; AND CONTINUED TO BE USED
IN SOME PARTS OF GAUL AND BRITAIN FOR SEVERAL AGES AFTER.

Pttblisted «fco by Matelloa, from tte same manuscript, and fit the same time and place with

Hie former.

The Mass for the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Office

5. pp. 334, 335.

IT is truly meet and right that we should always, here, and
every where give thanks unto thee, holy Lord, Almighty Father,
eternal God, whose property is rather to forgive than to punish
sins, &c.

After the Sanctus, or the hymn that begins, Holy, holy,
holy, %c.

Thou art truly holy, truly blessed, O Lord God, the Father
Almighty, the salvation of them that believe, and the Redeemer
of all in Christ ; through whom we pray and beseech thee, that
thou wouldst vouchsafe to receive, bless, and sanctify this
oblation that it may be grateful and acceptable ; which we offer
unto thee for the peace of thy Church; for the purity of thy
priests, and all thy ministers; for the state of this place, and of
all that dwell therein ; for the desires of all that stand before thee,
for the commemoration of the saints, and for the repose of the
dead; through the same our Lord, who the evening before he
vouchsafed to suffer for the salvation of us, and of all men.

We beseech thee, Almighty God, let thy holy Word descend
upon these gifts which we offer to thee; let the inestimable
Spirit of thy glory descend ; let the gift of thy ancient loving-

92 FRAGMENTS.

kindness descend, that this oblation may be made a spiritual
sacrifice, accepted by thee for a sweet smelling savour : also,
that thy unconquerable hand may keep us through the blood of
Christ.

Being afraid of ourselves, by reason of the error of our con
sciences, and ashamed through the remembrance of our sins, O
Almighty God ; we judge ourselves unworthy to invoke thy holy
name, that we should dare to say the prayer which thou hast
commanded us to say : nevertheless, because thou permittest it ;
therefore we say, Our Father, &c.

The Collect after the Lord's Prayer.

Deliver us from all evil, O Almighty eternal God : and because
thou only hast the power of granting it, grant that this solemn
sacrifice may sanctify our hearts whilst it is believed, and blot
out our sins when it is received ; through our Lord Jesus Christ.

SOME FRAGMENTS

OF THE MOZARABIC, OR MIXED ARABIC MISSAL, AS PUBLISHED BY
MABILLON IN THE OFFICES FOR ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS, IN HIS
APPENDIX TO THE ANCIENT GALLIC AN AND GOTHIC MISSALS.

Which Mozarabic Liturgy was anciently used in Africa, and afterwards in Spain, from the time
it was conquered by the Moors, about the year of our Lord 714, titt about the year 1080.

Out of the Office for Advent, p. 447.

Let the Priest, joining his hands, low down, and say, I will
go in unto the altar of God.

Let the chorus answer, To the God who rejoices my youth.

Let the Presbyter lay his hand upon the cup, and say,
Hearken unto the Lord.

Let the chorus answer, We do hearken unto the Lord.

Let the Presbyter say, Lift up your hearts.

Let the chorus answer, We lift them up unto the Lord.

Let the Presbyter, bowing himself, and joining his hands,
my, Let us give worthy praises, and worthy thanks, unto our
God, and Lord Jesus Christ, who is in heaven.

And when he says, Let us give thanks ; let the Priest lift up
his hands on high : and let the chorus say, It is meet and right
so to do.

Afterwards, let the Presbyter say :

THE ILLATION.

IT is meet and right that we should give thanks to thee, holy
Lord, eternal Father, Almighty God, through Jesus Christ thy
Son our Lord, whom John thy faithful friend preceded in his
birth : he went before him in the desert of the wilderness : he
went before him in baptizing : preparing also the way of judg
ment, and of the Redeemer: he called sinners together to
repentance ; and gaining people to their Saviour, he baptized in

94 FRAGMENTS.

Jordan those that confessed their sins, not conferring full grace
by the renewing of mercy, but admonishing them to wait for the
presence of the most pious Saviour : he did not himself remit the
sins of those who came to him, but promised remission of sins
hereafter to those who should believe ; that going down into the
waters of repentance, they might hope to receive pardon from
him who, they heard, was to come filled with the gift of truth
and grace. Therefore Christ is baptized of him with the visible
element, and the invisible Spirit : they are led by obedience to
mercy ; by the son of the barren, to the Son of the virgin ; by
John the great man, to Christ the God-man. Whom with the
Father and the Holy Ghost, angels and archangels, thrones,
dominions, and powers worship, saying thus :

Let the chorus answer :

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth ; heaven and earth are
filled with the glory of thy majesty ; hosannah to the Son of
David ; hosannah in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord ; hosannah in the highest.

Let the Presbyter say after the Sanctus :

OUR Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, is truly holy and glorious ; we
believe him to have been made flesh for the salvation of mankind;
and now we look for his future coming to judgment in the glory
of brightness with all the saints ; he is the Lord, and the eternal
Redeemer.

Then let the Priest say this prayer with a low voice ^ joining
his hands, and bowing before the altar :

O JESUS, the good High Priest, come, come and be in the midst
of us, as thou wast in the midst of thy disciples ; sancti-j-fy this
oblation, + that it being sanctified, + we may receive it by the
hands of thy holy angel, O holy Lord, and eternal Redeemer.
Our Lord J esus Christ, in that night in which he was betrayed,
took bread, and giving thanks, he bles+sed, and brake it ; and
gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, and eat : this is my body
which shall be delivered for you. Here let the body be elevated.
Do this as oft as ye eat it in remembrance + of me. Likewise
also the cup, after he had supped, saying, This -f- is the cup of
the New Testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you,

FRAGMENTS. 95

and for many, for the remission of sins. Here the cup covered
with the filiola shall be elevated. Do this as oft as ye drink it
in remembrance -f- of me. And when he comes to those words,
In remembrance of me, Let the Priest upon all days, except
festivals, speak with a loud voice. Let him also do the same
when he says, In brightness from the heavens. And let the
chorus each time answer, Amen.

As often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this cup, ye shall
shew the Lord's death till he shall come in brightness -f from
the heavens, Let the chorus answer, Amen.

Out of the Office for Christmas, p. 457.

Let the Priest say after Pridie : that is after the words of
Institution.

We, O Lord, observing these thy gifts and precepts, lay upon
thine altar the sacrifices of bread and wine, beseeching the most
profound goodness of thy mercy, that the holy and undivided
Trinity may sanctify these hosts by the same Spirit, through
which uncorrupt virginity conceived thee in the flesh ; that when
it has been received by us, not with less fear than veneration,
whatsoever dwells in us contrary to the good of the soul, may die ;
and whatsoever dies, may never revive again.

Let the Presbyter say before the Lord's Prayer :
What the way shewed, that we should follow ; what the life
taught, that we should speak ; what the truth appointed, that we
should hold ; let us with trembling of heart proclaim it from the
earth to thee, O highest Father. Our Father, &c.

Out of the Office for Advent, p. 451.

Holy things for holy persons ; and may the reception of the
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ procure pardon to us
that take it, and drink it, and repose to the faithful departed.

THE ROMAN MISSAL,
>MWr~ (fVJiz.

p~" - ' '•*"-„ Ly*~S>K

As Printed at Rome, 1647.

VERSICLE. The Lord be with you.

Answer. And with thy spirit.

Versicle. Lift up your hearts.

Answer. We lift them up unto the Lord.

Versicle. Let us give thanks to our Lord God.

Answer. It is meet and right so to do.

It is truly meet and right, just and profitable to our souls, that
we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee,
O Lord, holy Father, Almighty everlasting God, through Christ
our Lord ; through whom the angels praise thy majesty, the
dominions adore thee, the powers tremble before thee; the
heavens, and the hosts of heaven, with the blessed seraphim,
together glorify thee with united shouts of joy. With whom we
beseech thee to command also our voices to be admitted, with
humble submission, saying,

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are
full of thy glory ; hosannah in the highest : blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord ; hosannah in the highest.

THE CANON OF THE MASS.

The Priest extending and joining his hands and lifting up
his eyes to heaven, and immediately casting them down again,
bowing very low before the altar, and laying his hands upon
it says :

Therefore, most merciful Father, we humbly pray and beseech
thee, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; he kisses the
altar, to accept and bless, He join's his hands, and makes the

THE ROMAN MISSAL. 97

sign, of the cross thrice over the oblations; these -f gifts, these
H- offerings, these + holy unspotted sacrifices ; He stretches out
his hands, and proceeds : which, in the first place, we offer unto
thee for thy holy Catholic Church, that thou wouldst be pleased
to grant her peace, to preserve her, to unite her, and to govern
her throughout the whole world ; together with thy servant N. our
pope, and N. our bishop ; as also with all the orthodox and true
professors of the Catholic and Apostolic faith.

THE COMMEMORATION FOR THE LIVING.

BE mindful, O Lord, of thy servants and handmaids A7, and N.
He joins his hands, and prays a little while for those whom he
intends to pray for ; then stretching out his hands, lie proceeds.
And of all those who are here present, whose faith is known to
thee, and whose devotion is observed by thee, for whom we offer,
or who themselves offer to thee this sacrifice of praise for them
selves, and for all theirs, for the redemption of their souls, for the
hope of their health and salvation, and who pay their vows unto
thee, the eternal, living, and true God.

Infra actionem.

Communicating and honouring the memory, in the first place,
of the glorious ever Virgin Mary, mother of God, and our Lord
Jesus Christ ; as also of thy blessed apostles and martyrs, Peter
and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bar
tholomew, Matthew, Simon, and Thaddaeus ; Linus, Cletus,
Clement, Xystus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Laurentius, Chrysogonus,
John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian, and of all thy saints;
through whose merits and prayers grant that in all things we
may be defended by the help of thy protection. He joins his
hands. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holding his hands extended over the oblations, he says,

Therefore, O Lord, we beseech thee graciously to accept this
oblation of our bounden service, and of thy whole family ; dispose
our days in thy peace, and command us to be delivered from
eternal damnation, and to be numbered in the congregation of
thine elect. He joins his hands. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

98 THE ROM\N MISSAL.

Which oblalion do thou, O God, we beseech thee, vouchsafe
to render in all respects, He signs thrice over the oblations,
bles-fsed, appro+ved, effec-f-tual, reasonable, and acceptable;
He signs once over the host, and once over the cup ; that it may
be made unto us the bo-f-dy and blo+od of thy most beloved Son
our Lord Jesu Christ.

Who the day before he suffered, He takes the host; took
bread into his holy and venerable hands ; He lifts up his eyes to
heaven : and lifting up his eyes to heaven to thee his God and
Father Almighty; giving thanks to thee, He signs over the host;
he bles+sed it, brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,
Take, and eat ye all of this.

Holding the host with both his hands between his fore fingers
and thumbs , he pronounces the words of consecration distinctly,
secretly, and reverently :

FOR THIS IS MY BODY.

Having pronounced the words of consecration, he imme
diately kneels down and adores the consecrated host; rises,
shews it to the people, lays it again upon the corporal, adores
it again ; and does not disjoin his thumbs and fore fingers,
except when the host is to be handled, till the time of washing
his fingers.

Then uncovering the cup, he says,

In like manner after he had supped, He takes the cup with
both his hands : taking also this glorious cup into his holy and
venerable hands ; giving thanks likewise unto thee, Holding the
cup in his left hand, with his right he signs over it, he bles-|-sed
it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, and drink ye all
of it.

He pronounces the words of consecration secretly over the
cup, holding it a little elevated.

FOR THIS IS THE CUP OF MY BLOOD, OF THE
NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT: THE MYSTERY
OF FAITH: WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU
AND FOR MANY FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.

THE ROMAN MISSAL. 99

Having pronounced the words of consecration, he sets down
the cup upon the corporal, and saying secretly ; As often as ye
shall do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of me.
He kneels down, and adores it ; rises, shews it to the people ;
sets it down, covers it, and adores it again. Then disjoining
his hands, he says,

Wherefore, O Lord, we thy servants, and also thy holy people,
having in remembrance both the blessed passion of the same thy
Son Christ our Lord, as also his resurrection from the dead, and
likewise his triumphant ascension into the heavens : offer unto
thy glorious majesty of thine own gifts and presents, He joins his
hands, and signs thrice over the host and cup together, a pure
x host, an holy x host, an immaculate x host, He signs once
over the host, and once over the cup; the holy x bread of
eternal life, and the cup x of everlasting salvation.

Extending his hands, he proceeds:

Upon which vouchsafe to look with a propitious and serene
countenance, and accept them as thou wert pleased graciously to '
accept the gifts of thy righteous servant Abel, the sacrifice of our
patriarch x^braham, and the holy sacrifice, the immaculate host,
which thy high priest Melchizedeck offered to thee.

Bowing very low, joining his hands, ami laying them upon
the altar, he says,

We humbly beseech thee, O Almighty God, command these
things to be carried by the hands of thy holy angel unto thy high
altar, in the presence of thy divine majesty ; that as many of us
as, He kisses the altar, by this participation of the altar, shall
receive the most sacred, He joins his hands, and signs once over
the host, and once over the cup, bo xdy and bio xod of thy Son,
He signs himself, may be replenished with all heavenly benedic
tion and grace, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE COMMEMORATION FOR THE DEAD.

Remember also, O Lord, thy servants and handmaids N. and
N. who are gone before us with the sign of faith, and sleep in the
sleep of peace. He joins his hands, and prays a little while
for those departed whom he intends to pray for ; then stretching

100 THE ROMAN MISSAL.

out his hands, he proceeds: Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to
them, and to all that rest in Christ, a place of refreshment, light,
and peace. He joins his hands, and bows his head. Through
the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

He strikes his breast with his right hand, and lifting up his
voice a little, says,

And to us sinners, thy servants, who trust in the multitude of
thy mercies, vouchsafe to grant some part and society with thy
holy apostles and martyrs ; with John, Stephen, Matthias,
Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicitas,
Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnes, Csecilia, Anastasia, and with
all thy saints; into whose company do thou admit us, we
beseech thee ; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our
offences. He joins his hands. Through Christ our Lord.

By whom, O Lord, thou dost always create all these good
things ; He signs thrice over the host and cup together, saying,
Thou dost sane x tify, quick x en, ble x ss, and bestow them
upon us.

He uncovers the cup, kneels down, takes the sacrament in
his right hand, holding the cup in his left: with the host he
signs thrice over the cup from one side to the other, saying,
Through x him, with x him, and in X him ; He signs twice
between the cup and his breast ; to thee, O God, the Father x
Almighty, in the unity of the Holy x Ghost, Elevating the cup
a little with the host, he says, Be all honour and glory. He
lays down the host, covers the cup, kneels down, rises, and says,
For ever and ever.

Answer. Amen.
Let us pray.

Being instructed by wholesome precepts, and ordered by divine
institution, we presume to say ;

He extends his hands.

Our Father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name:
thy kingdom come : thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven :
give us this day our daily bread : and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not
into temptation. Answer: But deliver us from evil.

The Priest says with a low voice, Amen.

THE ROMAN MISSAL. 101

Then he takes the paten between his fore finger and middle
finger , and says,

Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils, past,
present, and to come : and through the intercession of the blessed
and glorious ever Virgin. Mary, mother of God, and of thy
blessed apostles, Peter, Paul, and Andrew, and all the saints ;
He signs himself from the forehead to the breast with the pateny
and kisses it, graciously give peace in our days ; that through
the assistance of thy mercy we may be always free from sin, and
secure from all trouble. He sets down the paten with the host,
uncovers the cup, kneels down, rises, takes the host, breaks it in
the middle over the cup, saying, Through the same our Lord
Jesus Christ thy Son. That piece which is in his right hand,
he lays upon the paten. Then of that part which remains in
his left hand, he breaks off a small piece, saying, Who liveth
and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost God.

The other middle piece with his left hand he lays upon the
paten, and in his right holding the small piece over the cup,
and the cup in his left, he says,

World without end.
Answer. Amen.

With the small piece he signs thrice over the cup, saying,

The peace X of the Lord be X always with x you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.

He puts the small piece into the cup, saying secretly :

May this commixtion and consecration of the body and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ be to us that receive it for eternal life.
Amen.

He covers the cup, kneels down, rises, and bowing to the
sacrament ivitli his hands joined, and striking his breast
thrice, he says,

O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have
mercy upon us.

O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have
mercy upon us.

102 THE ROMAN MISSAL.

O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant
us peace.

In Masses for the dead, it is not said. Have mercy upon us ;
but instead thereof, grant them rest ; and at the third repetition
is added, Eternal.

9

Then joining his hands over the altar, and boiving down, he
says the following prayers ;

O Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst unto thy apostles, My peace
I leave with you, my peace 1 give unto you ; look not on my
sins, but on the faith of thy Church ; and vouchsafe, according to
thy good pleasure, to grant her peace and union : who livest and
reignest God, world without end. Amen.

If the pax or peace is to be given, he kisses the altar, and
giving the pax, he says, Peace be with thee. Answer. And
with thy spirit. In Masses for the dead the pax is not given,
and the foregoing prayer is omitted.

0 Lord Jesus Christ, thou Son of the living God, who accord
ing to the will of the Father, through the co-operation of the
Holy Ghost, hast given life to the world by thy death ; deliver
me by this thy most sacred body and blood from all my iniquities,
and from all manner of evil ; make me always obedient to thy
commandments, and suffer me not to be ever separated from thee:
who with the same God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, livest
and reignesl God, world without end. Amen.

Grant, O Lord Jesus Christ, that the participation of thy body,
which unworthy I presume to receive, may not be to my judg
ment and condemnation; but may it, through thy mercy, be
available to the cure and safeguard of my soul and body : who
with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, livest and
reignest God, world without end. Amen.

He kneels down, rises, and says :

1 will take the heavenly bread, and call upon the name of the
Lord.

Then bowing a little, he takes both pieces of the host between
the thumb and fore finger of his left hand, and the paten
between the same fore finger and his middle finger, and stri-

• THE ROMAN MISSAL. 103

king his breast with his right hand, elevating his voice a little,
he says thrice humbly and devoutly.

Lord, I ain not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof, 1
but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.

Then signing himself with his right hand with the host upon
the paten, he says,

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul unto
everlasting life. Amen.

He takes reverently both pieces of the host, joins his hands,
and pauses a little while to meditate upon the most holy
sacrament. Then he uncovers the cup, kneels down, picks
up the crumbs if there be any, wipes the paten over the
cup, saying at the same time :

What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards
me ? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of
the Lord. I will praise the Lord, and so shall I be safe from
mine enemies.

He takes the cup in his right hand, and signing himself with
it, says :

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul unto
everlasting life. Amen.

He takes all the blood, with the small piece that was put
into it: which having taken, if there are any to be
communicated, he communicates them.

THE FORM AND MANNER

OF CONSECRATING AND ADMINISTERING THE HOLY COMMUNION,
ACCORDING TO THE LITURGY OF KING EDWARD THE SIXTH,
CALLED, THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, AND ADMINIS
TRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER RITES AND
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH, AFTER THE USE OF THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Printed at London, June the l&th. Anno Dom. 1549.

Ttien shall the minister take so much bread and wine, as
shall suffice for the persons appointed to receive the holy
communion, laying the bread upon the corporas, or else in
the paten, or in some other comely thing prepared for that
purpose. And putting the wine into the chalice, or else in
some fair or convenient cup prepared for that use, (if the
chalice will not serve) putting thereto a litle pure and clean
water: and setting both the bread and wine upon the
altar : then the Priest shall say,

The Lord be with you.

Answer. And with thy spirit,

Priest. Lift up your hearts.

Answer. We lift them up unto the Lord.

Priest. Let us give thanks to our Lord God.

Answer. It is meet and right so to do.

The Priest.

It is very meet and right, and our bounden duty, that we
should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to thee, O Lord,
Holy Father, Almighty everlasting God.

THE COMMUNION OFFICE. 105

Here shall follow the proper preface according to the time (if
there be any specially appointed) or else immediately shall
follow.

THEREFORE with angels and archangels, and with all the holy

company of heaven : we laud and magnify thy glorious name,

evermore praising thee, and saying :

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts : heaven and earth are

full of thy glory : hosannah in the highest. Blessed is he that

cometh in the name of the Lord : glory to thee, O Lord, in the

highest.

This the Clerks shall also sing.

When the Clerks have done singing, then shall the Priest, or
Deacon, turn himself to the people and say,

Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church.

Then the Priest turning himself to the altar, shall say or sing,
plainly and distinctly, this prayer following.

ALMIGHTY and ever-living God, which by thy holy apostle hast
taught us to make prayers and supplications, and to give thanks
for all men ; we humbly beseech thee most mercifully to receive
these our prayers, which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty,
beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church, with
the spirit of truth, unity, and concord ; and grant that all they
that do confess thy holy name, may agree in the truth of thy holy
word, and live in unity and godly love. Specially we beseech
thee to save and defend thy servant Edward our King, that under
him we may be godly and quietly governed : and grant unto his
whole council, and to all that be put in authority under him, that
they may truly and indifferently minister justice, to the punish
ment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of God's
true religion and virtue. Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all
bishops, pastors, and curates, that they may both by their life and
doctrine set forth thy true and lively word, and rightly and duly
administer thy holy sacraments. And to all thy people give thy
heavenly grace ; that with meek heart and due reverence, they
may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in holi
ness and righteous all the days of their life. And we most hum
bly beseech thee of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour
all them, which in this life be in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness,
p

106 THE COMMUNION OFFICE.

or any other adversity. And especially we commend unto thy
merciful goodness this congregation, which is here assembled in
thy name to celebrate the commemoration of the most glorious
death of thy Son : and here we give unto thee most high praise
and hearty thanks, for the wonderful grace and virtue, declared
in all thy saints, from the beginning of the world : and chieily in
the glorious and most blessed Virgin Mary, mother of thy Son
Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and in thy holy patriarchs, pro
phets, apostles, and martyrs, whose examples, O Lord, and sted-
fastness in thy faith, and keeping thy holy commandments, grant
us to follow. We commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all other
thy servants, which are departed hence from us, with the sign
of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace. Grant unto them,
we beseech thee, thy mercy, and everlasting peace ; and that at
the day of the general resurrection, we, and all they which be of
the mystical body of thy Son, may altogether be set on his right
hand, and hear that his most joyful voice : Come unto me, O ye
that be blessed of my Father, and possess the kingdom which is
prepared for you, from the beginning of the world. Grant this?
O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate.

O GOD, heavenly Father, which of thy tender mercy didst give
thine only Son Jesu Christ, to suffer death upon the cross, for our
redemption, who made there, by his one oblation once offered, a
full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for
the sins of the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gos
pel command us, to celebrate a perpetual memory of that his pre
cious death, until his coming again : hear us, O merciful Father,
we beseech thee : and with thy Holy Spirit and Word vouchsafe,
to ble+ss and sanc+tify these thy gifts and creatures of bread
and wine, that they may be unto us the body and blood of thy
most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ. [Here the Priest must
take the bread into his hands.] Who in the same night lhat he
was betrayed, took bread ; and when he had blessed and given
thanks, he brake it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take,
eat, this is my body which is given for you : do this in remem
brance of me.

[Here the Priest Shall take the cup into his hands.] Like
wise after supper he took the cup ; and when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, for this is my

THE COMMUNION OFFICE. 107

blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many,
for the remission of sins : do this, as oft as ye drink it, in remem
brance of me.

These Words before rehearsed, are to be said, turning still to
the altar, without any elevation, or shewing the sacrament to
the people.

WHEREFORE, O Lord, and heavenly Father, according to the
institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesu Christ,
we thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before thy
Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, the memorial which
thy Son hath willed us to make : having in remembrance his
blessed passion, mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension, ren
dering unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits
procured unto us by the same, entirely desiring thy fatherly good
ness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanks
giving, most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits
and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood,
we, and all thy whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins,
and all other benefits of his passion. And here we offer and pre
sent unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to be a
reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee : humbly beseech
ing thee, that whosoever shall be partakers of this holy commu
nion, may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of
thy Son Jesus Christ, and be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly
benediction, and made one body with thy Son Jesu Christ, that
he may dwell in them, and they in him. And although we be
unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacri
fice, yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and
service, and command these our prayers and supplications, by
the ministry of thy holy angels, to be brought up into thy holy
tabernacle before the sight of thy Divine Majesty, not weighing
our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Christ our Lord.
By whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all
honour and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without
end. Amen.

Let us pray.

As our Saviour Christ has commanded and taught us, we are
bold to say :
OUR Father, which art in heaven ; hallowed be thy name ; thy

108 THE COMMUNION OFFICE.

kingdom come ; thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven ;
give us this day our daily bread ; and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us ; and lead us not into
temptation.

The Answer.
But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then shall the Priest say :
The peace of the Lord be alway with you.

The Clerks.
And with thy Spirit

The Priest.

CHRIST our Paschal Lamb, is offered up for us, once for all,
when he bore our sins on his body on the cross, for he is the very
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world ; wherefore
let us keep a joyful and holy feast with the Lord.

Here the Priest shall turn himself towards those that come to
the Holy Communion, and shall say :

You that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, to
Almighty God, and be in love and charity with your neighbours,
and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of
God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways, draw near
and take this holy sacrament to your comfort ; make your hum
ble confession to Almighty God, and to his holy Church, here
gathered together in his name, meekly kneeling upon your knees.

Then shall this general 'confession be made, in the name of all
those that are minded to receive the Holy Communion, either
by one of them, or else by one of the Ministers, or by the
Priest himself, all kneeling humbly upon their knees.
ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all
things, judge of all men, we acknowledge and bewail our mani
fold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most griev
ously have committed, by thought, word, and deed against thy
Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation
against us. We do earnestly repent, and are. heartily sorry for
these our misdoings ; the remembrance of them is grievous unto
us ; the burthen of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us,
have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, for thy Son our Lord
Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past, and grant that we

THE COMMUNION OFFICE. 109

may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the
honour and glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Then the Priest stands up, and turning himself to the people,

says thus :

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy
hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them, which with hearty
repentance and true faith turn to him : have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen
you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life ; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then shall the Priest also say:

Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith to all
that truly turn to him.

COME unto me all that travel, and be heavy laden, and I shall
refresh you. So God loved the world, that he gave his only be
gotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not
perish, but have life everlasting.

Hear also what St. Paul saith :

This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received,
that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.
Hear also what Saint John saith :

If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the Righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.

Then shall the Priest, turning himself to God's board, kneel
down, and say, in the name of all them that shall receive
the communion, this prayer following :

WE do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great
mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs
under thy table, but thou art the same Lord, whose property is
always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to
eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood
in these holy mysteries, that we may continually dwell in him, and
he in us, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body,
and our souls washed through his most precious blood. Amen.

110 THE COMMUNION OFFICE.

Then shall the Priest first receive the communion in both
kinds himself, and next deliver it to other ministers, if
any be there present, (that they may be ready to help the
chief minister} and after to the people.

And when he deliver eth the sacrament of the body of Christ,

he shall say to every one these words :

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee,
preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.

And the minister delivering the sacrament of the blood, and
giving every one to drink once and no more, shall say :

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee,
preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.

A COMMUNION OFFICE,

TAKEN PARTLY FROM PRIMITIVE LITURGIES, AND PARTLY FROM
THE FIRST ENGLISH REFORMED COMMON PRAYER-BOOK.

Printed at London, 1718.

Then shall the Priest take so much bread and wine, as shall
suffice for the persons appointed to receive the holy commu
nion ; laying the bread in the paten, or in some other decent
thing prepared for that purpose ; and putting the wine into
the chalice, or else into some fair and convenient cup
prepared for that use, putting thereto, in the view of the
people, a little pure and clean water : and then setting both
the bread and the cup upon the altar, he shall turn to the
people, and say :

Let us pray :

Then the Priest shall turn to the altar, and standing humbly
before it, he shall say the Collect following :

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast created us, and placed us in this
ministry by the power of thy Holy Spirit ; may it please thee, O
Lord, as we are ministers of the New Testament, and dis
pensers of thy holy mysteries, to receive us who are approaching
thy holy altar, according to the multitude of thy mercies, that
we may be worthy to offer unto thee this reasonable and unbloody
sacrifice for our sins, and the sins of the people. Receive it, O
God, as a sweet smelling savour, and send down the grace of thy
Holy Spirit upon us. And as thou didst accept this worship
and service from thy holy apostles ; so of thy goodness, O Lord,
vouchsafe to receive these offerings from the hands of us sinners,
that being made worthy to minister at thy holy altar without
blame, we may have the reward of good and faithful servants at

112 THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE.

that great and terrible day of account and just retribution ; through
our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who, with thee and the Holy
Ghost, liveth and reignelh ever one God, world without end.
Amen.

Then shall the Priest turn himself to the people, and say,

The Lord be with you.

Answer.
And with thy spirit.

Priest,
Lift up your hearts.

Answer.
We lift them up unto the Lord.

Priest.
Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.

Answer.
It is meet and right so to do.

Then shall the Priest turn himself to the altar, and say,

It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should
at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord,
Holy Father,* Almighty, Everlasting God.

Here shall follow the proper Preface according to the time, if
there be any specially appointed; or else immediately shall
follow ;

Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the com
pany of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, ever
more praising thee, and saying,

Here the people shall join with the Priest, and say,

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ; heaven and earth are
full of thy glory; hosannah in the highest: blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord : glory be to thee, O Lord most
high. Amen.

Immediately after, the Priest shall say,

Holiness is thy nature and thy gift, O eternal King; holy is
thine only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom thou

* These words " Holy Father." must be omitted on Trinity Sunday.

THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE. 113

hast made the worlds ; holy is thine ever-blessed Spirit, who
searcheth all things, even the depths of thine infinite perfection.
Holy art thou, almighty and merciful God ; thou createdst man
in thine own image, bronghtest him into paradise, and didst place
him in a state of dignity and pleasure : and when he had lost his
happiness by transgressing thy command, thou of thy goodness
didst not abandon and despise him. Thy providence was still
continued, thy law was given to revive the sense of his duty, thy
prophets were commissioned to reclaim and instruct him. And
when the fulness of time was come, thou didst send thine only
begotten Son to satisfy thy justice, to strengthen our nature, and
renew thine image within us : for these glorious ends thine
eternal Word came down from heaven, was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost, born of the blessed virgin, conversed with mankind,
and directed his life and miracles to our salvation : and when
his hour was come to offer the propitiatory sacrifice upon the
cross ; when he, who had no sin himself, mercifully undertook to
suffer death for our sins, in the same night that he .was betrayed
he [here the Priest is to take the paten into his hands] took
bread ; and when he had given thanks, [and here to break the
bread [he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take,
eat, [and here to lay his hand upon all the bread] THIS IS
MY BOxDY, which is given for you; do this in remembrance
of me.

Here the people shall answer,
Amen.

Then shall the Priest say,

Likewise after supper [here he is to take the cup into his
hands] he took the cup ; and when he had given thanks, he gave
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, for [and here to lay his
hand upon every vessel, be it chalice or flagon, in winch there
is any wine and water to le consecrated] THIS IS MY
BLO xOD of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for
many for the remission of sins; do this, as oft as _\e shall drink
it in remembrance of me.

Here the people shall answer,
Amen.

114 THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE.

Then shall the Priest say,

Wherefore, having in remembrance his passion, death, and
resurrection from the dead; his ascension into heaven, and
second coming with glory and great power to judge the quick
and the dead, and to render to every man according to his
works ; we offer to thee, our Ring and our God, according to his
holy institution, this bread and this cup ; giving thanks to thee
through him, that thou hast vouchsafed us the honour to stand
before thee, and to sacrifice unto thee. And we beseech thee to
look favourably on these thy gifts, which are here set before thee,
O thou self-sufficient God: and do thou accept them to the
honour of thy Christ; and send down thine Holy Spirit, the
witness of the passion of our Lord Jesus, upon this sacrifice, that
he may make this [here the priest shall lay his hand upon the
bread] bread the body of thy Christ, and this [and here upon
every vessel, be it chalice orjlagon, in which there is any wine
and water] cup the blood of thy Christ; that they who are
partakers thereof, may be confirmed in godliness, may obtain
remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his
snares, may be replenished with the Holy Ghost, may be made
worthy of thy Christ, and may obtain everlasting life, thou, O
Lord Almighty, being reconciled unto them, through the merits
and mediation of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ; who, with
thee and the holy Ghost, liveth and reigiieth ever one God, world
without end. Amen.

Almighty and ever-living God, who by thy holy apostle hast
taught us to make prayers and supplications, and to give thanks
for all men ; we humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept
these our oblations, and to receive these our prayers, which we
offer unto thy divine majesty, beseeching thee to inspire con
tinually the universal Church with the Spirit of truth, unity,
and concord ; and grant, that all they that do confess thy holy
name, may agree in the truth of thy holy word, and live in unity
and godly love. Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all bishops
and curates, that they may both by their life and doctrine set
forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer
thy holy sacraments. We beseech thee also to save and defend
all Christian kings, princes, and governors ; and especially thy

THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE. 115

servant our king, that under him we may be godly and quietly
governed : and grant unto his whole council, and to all that are
put in authority under him, that they may truly and indifferently
minister justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and
to the maintenance of thy true religion and virtue. And to all
thy people give thy heavenly grace, that with meek heart and due
reverence they may hear and receive thy holy Word, truly
serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their
life. And we commend especially unto thy merciful goodness
this congregation, which is here assembled in thy name to cele
brate the commemoration of the most glorious death of thy Son.
And we most humbly beseech thee of thy goodness, O Lord, to
comfort and succour all them, who in this transitory life are in
trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity ; [* especi
ally those Jor whom our prayers are desired.] And here we do
give unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks, for the
wonderful grace and virtue declared in all thy saints, from the
beginning of the world ; and particularly in the glorious and ever
blessed Virgin Mary, mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord
and God ; and in the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs,
and confessors ; whose examples, O Lord, and stedfastness in thy
faith, and keeping thy holy commandments, grant us to follow.
We commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all thy servants, tvho are
departed hence from us with the sign of faith, and now do rest in
the sleep of peace : grant unto them, we beseech thee, thy mercy
and everlasting peace ; and that at the day of the general resur
rection, we and all they who are of the mystical body of thy Son,
may all together be set on his right hand, and hear that his most
joyful voice : Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Grant this,
O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only mediator and advo
cate. Amen.

Then the Priest shall say the Lord's prayer, the people
repeating after him every petition.

Our Father, which art in heaven ; hallowed be thy name : thy

kingdom come : thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven :

give us this day our daily bread ; and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive them that trespass against us : and lead us not into

* This is to be said when any desire the prayers of the congregation.

116 THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE.

temptation ; but deliver us from evil : for thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Then shall the Priest turn to the people, and say,

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Answer.
And with thy spirit.

Priest.

Christ, our Paschal Lamb, is offered up for us, once for all,
when he bare our sins in his body upon the cross ; for he is the
very Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world :
wherefore let us keep a joyful and holy feast unto the Lord.

Then the Priest shall say to all those that come to receive the
holy communion :

Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are
in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a
new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from
henceforth in his holy ways ; draw near with faith, and take this
holy sacrament to your comfort, and make your humble confession
to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees.

Tfien shall this general confession be made by the Priest and
People, both he and they kneeling humbly upon their knees
with their faces towards the altar, and saying :

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all
things, judge of all men; we acknowledge and bewail our
manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most
grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against
thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indig
nation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily
sDrry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is
grievous unto us ; the burden of them is intolerable. Have
mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father ; for
thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past ;
and grant, that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in
newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy name, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then shall the Priest (or the Bishop, being present) stand

THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE. 1J7

up, and turning himself to the people, pronounce this
absolution.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy
hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them, that with hearty,
repentance and true faith turn unto him ; have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen
you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life, through
Jesus Christ our Lord* Amen.

Tlien shall the Priest also say,

Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all
that truly turn to him.

Come unto me, all that travel, and are heavy laden, and I will
refresh you. Matt. xi. 28.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to
the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. John iii. 16.

Hear also what St. Paul saith.

This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received,
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Tim.
i. 15.

Hear also what St. John saith.

If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.
1 John ii. I, 2.

Then lite Priest shall say to the People,
Let us pray.

Then shall the Priest, turning himself to the altar, kneel
down, and say in the name of all them that shall receive
the communion, this prayer following :

WE do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great
mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs
under thy table ; but thou art the same Lord, whose property is
always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to
eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood,
that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our

118 THE NEW COMMUNION OFFICE.

souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may
evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

Then shall the Bishop, if he be present, or else the Priest
that officiate thy kneel down and receive the communion in
both kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same
to other Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner, if
any be there present ; and after that to the People also in
order into their hands, all meekly kneeling.

And when lie deliver eth the sacrament of the body of Christ

to any one, he shall say,

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee,
preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.

Here the person receiving shall say,
Amen.

And the Priest or Deacon that delivereth the sacrament of

the blood of Christ to any one, shall say,
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee,
preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.

Here the person receiving shall say,
Amen.

ST. JUSTIN MARTYR'S ACCOUNT

OF THE MANNER OF CELEBRATING THE EUCHARIST IN HIS DAYS,

THAT IS, ABOUT FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF ST.

JOHN THE APOSTLE, BEGINNING AT THE EIGHTY-FIFTH

CHAPTER OF HIS FIRST APOLOGY.

As translated and published by Mr. Reeves, excepting one or two passages, London, 1709.

85. AFTER the believer is baptized, and so incorporated or made
one with us, we lead him to the congregation of the brethren, as
we call them, and then with great fervency pour out our souls in
common prayers, both for ourselves, for the person baptized, and
for all others all the world over ; that having embraced the truth,
our conversation might be as becometh the gospel, and that we
be found doers of the word, and so at length be saved with an
everlasting salvation. Prayers being over, we salute each other
with a kiss : after this, bread and a cup of water,* and mixed
wine, are brought to the president or bishop, which he takes, and
offers up praise and glory through the name of his Son and the
Holy Spirit; and this thanksgiving to God for vouchsafing us
worthy of these his creatures, is a prayer of more than ordinary
length. When the bishop has finished the prayers and the
eucharistic service, all the people present conclude with an
audible voice, saying, Amen. Now amen in the Hebrew tongue
is, so be it. The eucharistical office being thus performed by the
bishop, and concluded with the acclamations of all the people,
those we call deacons distribute to every one present to partake

* By mixed wine, Justin means wine so mixed with water, as it was com
monly drank in those hot countries : to which nevertheless they added water in
the sight of the people, that they might be assured they had not pure, but
mixed wine.

120 ST. JUSTIN MARTYR'S ACCOUNT.

of this eucharistical bread, and * wine, and water, and then they
carry it to the absent.

86. This food we call the eucharist, of which none are allowed
to be partakers but such only as are true believers, and have
been baptized in the laver of regeneration for the remission of
sins, and live according to Christ's precepts; for we do not take
this as common bread and common drink : but as Jesus Christ
our Saviour was made flesh by the Logos of God, and had real
flesh and blood for our salvation, so are we taught that this food,
which the very same Logos blessed by prayer and thanksgiving,
is turned into the nourishment and substance of our flesh and
blood, and is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus. For the
apostles in their commentaries called the gospels, have left this
command upon record, That Jesus took bread, and when he had
given thanks, he said, Do this in commemoration of me, for this
is my body : and in like manner he took the cup, and when he
had given thanks, he said, This is my blood, and delivered it to
them only. And this very solemnity too the evil spirits have
introduced in the mysteries of Mithra ; for you do, or may know,
that when any one is initiated into this religion, bread and a cup
of water, with a certain form of words, are made use of in the
sacrifice. After this sacrament is over, we remind each other of
the obligations to his duty, and the rich relieve the poor, and
upon such charitable accounts we visit some or other every day.

87. And in every eucharistical sacrifice we bless the Maker of
all things through his Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy
Spirit: and upon the day called Sunday, all that live either in
city or country meet together in the same place, where the
writings of the apostles and prophets are read, as much as time
will give leave : when the reader has done, the bishop makes a
sermon to the people, and animates them to the practice of such
lovely precepts : at the conclusion of this discourse, we all rise
up together and pray ; and prayers being over, as I now said,

* Here, what Justin before called water and mixture, or mixed wine, he
plainly calls wine and water. Which clearly explains what he before meant
by r)pdp.a, or mixed wine, about which the author of " No Reason," &.c. has
made so much difficulty, pretending that it is unintelligible.

ST. JUSTIN MARTYR'S ACCOUNT. 121

there is bread, and wine, and water, offered, and the bishop, as
before, sends up prayers and thanksgivings, with all the fervency
he is able, and the people conclude all with the joyful acclamation
of Amen. Then the consecrated elements are distributed to, and
partaken of by all that are present, and sent to the absent by the
hands of the deacons.

THE FIFTH MYSTAGOGICAL CATECHISM

OF ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, ON THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST.

PETER:* THEREFORE CASTING AWAY ALL UNCLEANNESS,

AND ALL DECEIT, AND EVIL SPEAKING, &c.

1. You have, by the grace of God, been sufficiently informed in
the foregoing discourses concerning Baptism, Chrism, and the
participation of the body and blood of Christ: but it is now
requisite we proceed to what remains ; this day putting an end
to that which is necessary to your spiritual edification. You saw
the deacon holding water to the bishop and to the presbyters
which stood about the altar. Did he do this for the washing
away the filth of the body ? By no means : for we are not wont
to come into the church with dirty bodies: but that washing is a
sign that you ought to be cleansed from all your sins and
iniquities. Forasmuch as the hands denote our actions, to wash
them signifies the cleanness and purity of our works. Have you
not heard the blessed David going to handle the holy mysteries,
and saying, / ivill wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and
so will I compass thine altar ? f Therefore to wash the hands,
is a token that we should be clean from sin.

2. Then the deacon calls out, Embrace and kiss ye one
another. Do not thou esteem this as such a kiss which common
friends give to one another when they meet in a public place :
for it is not a kiss of that sort. This reconciles the souls to each
other, and promises a forgetfulness of all evil turns. Therefore
this kiss is a sign of the reconciliation of minds, and of blotting
out the memory of all injuries. Therefore Christ said, If thou
bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother have ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and

* 1 Pet. ii. 1. f Psalm, xxii. 6.

THE FIFTH MYSTAGOGICAL CATECHISM. 123

then come and offer thy gift.* Therefore this kiss is a recon
ciliation, and for that reason holy, as the blessed Paul speaks,
saying, Salute ye one another with an holy kiss.-\- And Peter
says, with a kiss of charity. J

3. Then the priest calls out, Lift up your hearts. For truly
at that tremendous hour we ought to have the heart lifted up to
God, and not set upon the earth and worldly affairs. By the
force of these words, the priest requires all, that in this hour they
lay aside all the concerns of this life and their domestic cares,
and have their hearts in heaven with the lover of mankind.
Then you answer : We lift them up unto the Lord, acknow
ledging that you assent to what he requires. But let no one stay
here and say with his mouth, We lift them up unto the Lord,
whilst he lets his mind rove upon the things of this life. We
ought indeed always to think upon God; but if this cannot be
done by reason of the infirmity of human nature, it is in an
especial manner to be endeavoured at this hour.

4. Then the priest says, Let us give thanks unto the Lord.
We ought certainly to give thanks that he has called us unworthy
to so great a grace ; that he has reconciled us to himself being
his enemies, and has given us the spirit of adoption. Then you
say, It is right avid meet so to do. For when we give thanks
unto God, we do a work that is right and meet: but he doing
not what is barely right, but what is above right, has done great
benefits for us, and vouchsafed us such excellent gifts.

5. Then we make mention of heaven and earth, and the sea ;
of the sun and moon, and the stars, and of every creature rational
and irrational, visible and invisible; of angels, archangels, poten
tates, dominions, principalities, powers, and cherubim covering
their faces, as though we should say that of David; Magnify the
Lord with me. Then we make mention of those seraphim Which
Isaiah, being in the Spirit, saw standing about the throne of
God : And with two wings they cover their face, and with two
their feet, but with the other two they Jiy9 and say, Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. \\ For we therefore sing this
seraphical divine song, that in our hymns we communicate with
the heavenly host: and thus sanctifying ourselves with such
spiritual hymns, we beseech God, the lover of men, to send his

* Matt. v. 23. f 1 Cor. xvi. 20. + I Pet. v. 14. 11 Isa. vi. 2.

124 THE FIFTH MYSTAGOGICAL CATECHISM.

Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before him, that he may make
the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ :
for that on which the Holy Ghost descends, is sanctified and
changed.

6. But then when we have finished the spiritual sacrifice, the
unbloody worship in that propitiatory sacrifice, we pray to God
for the common peace of the Church, for the tranquillity of the
world, for kings, for the armies, and those that fight with them,
for the sick and afflicted ; and, in a word, we pray to thee for all
that need assistance, and offer this sacrifice unto thee. Then we
also make mention of those who are at rest before us : first the
patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, that God through their
prayers and supplications would receive our prayers : then we
pray for the deceased fathers and bishops : lastly, for all those
that once lived with us, and are now departed ; believing it to be
a great benefit unto their souls for whom prayer is made, whilst
the holy and tremendous sacrifice lies before us.

7. Which I will show you by an example. For I know that
many say, What signifies it to a soul to be mentioned in our
prayers, whether it went out of the world with sins or without ?
For if any king should send into banishment those which have
offended him, but afterwards some of their friends making a
crown, should offer it to him in behalf of those who are thus
punished ; would he not be disposed to remit their punishment ?
In like manner we offering prayers for the dead, although they
were sinners, do not make a crown, but offer Christ, who was
slain for our sins, that we may render him, who is the lover of
men, gracious and propitious both to them and ourselves.

8. Then we say that prayer which our Saviour delivered to
his domestic disciples ; with a pure conscience calling God our
Father, and saying, Our Father which art in heaven.* O the
great love of God to mankind ! to those who have revolted from
him, and were fallen into the greatest evils, he so far forgot their
wickedness, and granted them such a participation of his grace,
as to be called their Father : Our Father which art in heaven.
For the heavens are what bear the image of the heavenly, where
God dwells and walks.^

9. 'Hallotved be thy name. The name of God is holy by

* Matt. vi. 9. and Luke xi 2. f 2 Cor. vi. 16.

THE FIFTH MYSTAGOGICAL CATECHISM. 125

nature, whether we say it or not. But because his name is
sometimes profaned by sinners, as it is written : For the name of
God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, through you; * we pray
that the name of God may be sanctified in us ; not that it should
begin, to be what it is not, but that it may be esteemed holy by us
when we are sanctified, and do things worthy of sanctification.

10. Thy kingdom come. It belongs to a pure soul to say with
boldness, Thy kingdom come. For he that hears St. Paul,
saying, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, f and
cleanses himself in thought, word and deed, will say to God,
Thy kingdom come.

11. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. The divine
and blessed angels do the will of God as David says, Bless the
Lord, all ye angels of his, ye that excel in virtue, doing his
will. I Therefore this is as if you should pray, saying, As thy
will is performed by the angels, so let it be performed by me on
earth, O Lord.

12. Give us this day our super-substantial bread. This
common bread is not super-substantial ; but that holy bread is
called super-substantial, because it confirms the substance of the
soul. This bread goes down into the belly, from thence to be
cast into the draught, but it is distributed through thy whole
person for the benefit of body and soul : but this day is said for
every day ; as St. Paul says, whilst it is called to day. \\

13 And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that
trespass against us. For we have many sins, and offend both
in word and thought, and do many things worthy of condemnation.
And, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,^ as John
says. We therefore make a covenant with God, when we ask to
have our trespasses forgiven us as we forgive our neighbours.
Therefore considering how much we receive for so very little, let
us not delay nor prolong the time to forgive one another's
offences. The trespasses that are committed against us, are
little, light, and easy to be forgiven ; but those which are com
mitted by you against God, are very great, and to be forgiven
only through his own great love to mankind. Take heed there
fore, that by thy not forgiving the small and light trespasses of

lv

* Rom. ii. 24. f Rom. vi. 12. + Psalm ciii, 20.

|| Heb. iii. 13. § I John i. 8.

126 THE FIFTH MYSTAGOGICAL CATECHISM.

thy brother against thee, thou hinder God from forgiving thy
grievous trespasses against himself.

14. And lead us not into temptation, O Lord. Does the
Lord teach us here to pray, that we be not tempted at all ? How
then comes it to be said in another place, that the man who is
not tempted, is not proved ? And again, My brethren, count it
all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.* But perhaps to
enter into temptation, is to be overwhelmed in the temptation :
for that seems to be a temptation which, like a torrent, is difficult
to be passed over. Those therefore who are not overwhelmed by
the torrent of temptations, like excellent swimmers, pass safely
through them, and are never destroyed by them. But they that
are not such, entering into the temptation, are overwhelmed.
For example : Judas entering into the temptation of covetousness,
overcame it not, but was overwhelmed by it, and suffocated both
body and soul. Peter entered into the temptation of denying
Christ, but stoutly swimming through, was delivered from the
temptation, Hear again in another place a whole choir of saints,
giving thanks for their deliverance from evil. Thou, O Lord,
hast proved us : thou also hast tried us like as silver is tried :
thou broughtest Us into the snare, and laidest trouble upon our
loins : thou broughtest men over our head : we went through

fire and water ^ and thou broughtest us into a place of refresh
ment.^ You see them speaking boldly of their passage through,
and not staying. And thou broughtest us out, say they, into a
place of refreshment. That they came into a place of refresh
ment, is, that they were delivered out of temptation.

15. But deliver us from the evil one. If the words Lead us
not into temptation, signified, Let us not be tempted at all, he
would not also have added, Deliver us from the evil one. But
the evil one is our adversary the devil, from whom we desire to
be delivered. Then when the prayer is ended, thou sayest,
Amen : sealing with Amen, which signifies, So be it, all that is
contained in this prayer which we have been taught of God.

16. After these things, the Priest says, Holy things for holy
persons : the oblations lying on the altar are holy, receiving the
descent of the Holy Ghost : ye also are holy, being also sanctified
by the Holy Ghost. Then you answer : There is one holy, one
Lord Jesus Christ. There is truly one holy, holy by nature : but

* James i. 2. t Psalm Ixvi. 10,

THE FIFTH MYSTAGOGICAL CATECHISM. 127

we are also holy, but not by nature, but by participation, by
exercise and by prayer.

17. Then thou heardest him sing with divine melody, exhort
ing you to the participation of the divine mysteries, and saying,
O taste and see how gracious the Lord is.* Are you exhorted
to this, that you should judge of it by your corporeal palate ?
By no means, but by a most sure and certain faith : for those that
taste are not called to taste of bread and wine, but of the anti
type or perfect representative of the body and blood of Christ.

1 8. Drawing near therefore, do not come with your hands wide
open, neither with your fingers separated one from another, but
making your left hand a support for your right hand, which is
going to receive so great a king ; and keeping your hand hollow,
so receive the body of Christ, saying, Amen. Then diligently
sanctifying your eyes with the touch of the holy body, take it,
being careful that you drop nothing of it : for whatever you lose
of it, it is like losing a piece of one of your own members. For
tell me, if any one should give thee branches of gold, wouldst not
thou hold them very carefully, keeping them so as nothing
should be lost, and so thou sustain damage ? Therefore oughtest
not thou to be much more careful to preserve this, which is more
precious than gold or jewels, that nothing of it fall down ?

19. Then after thou hast communicated of the body of Christ,
draw near and take the cup of his blood ; not reaching out your
hands, but bowing down, and in a posture of worship and adora
tion, saying, Amen. Mayest thou be also sanctified with the
blood of Jesus Christ which thou receivest: and whilst the
moisture is still on your lips, wipe them with your hands, and
therewith sanctify your eyes, your forehead, and other members.
Lastly, waiting for the prayer of dismission, give thanks to God,
who has vouchsafed to deem thee worthy such great mysteries.
Hold fast these traditions, and keep yourselves void of offence,
and do not cut yourselves off from communion ; neither through
the corruption of sin deprive yourselves of these holy and heavenly
mysteries. And the God of peace perfectly sanctify you : and
may both your soul and spirit be preserved unto the appearance
of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and Holy
Spirit be all glory, honour, and power, now and ever, world
without end. Amen.

* Psalm xxxiv. 3.

DISSERTATION

CONCERNING THE

PRECEDING LITURGIES.

IN my discourse * concerning the necessary use of tradition to
understand the holy scripture, I mentioned the Liturgies of St.
James, St. Mark, St. Clement, St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, St.
Ambrose, Pope Gelasius, together with the Gothick and Gallican
Missals, and promised to publish them in our own language : and
have now, I trust, performed that promise. I must confess, I
had not then seen the Liturgies of Ambrose and Gelasius, neither
the Gothick or Gallican Missals : however, it being my purpose
to seek only the truth, and to follow it and teach it wherever I
could find it ; and being convinced that Antiquity, Universality,
and Consent, joined with the authority of the holy scriptures,
were the best evidence of all Christian truths, and that the most
ancient Liturgies of all churches were the best testimony of that
Universality and Consent ; I determined to publish in our own
tongue all those Liturgies, which might be evidences of this
Universality and Consent, as far as they concerned the ministra
tion of the holy communion, or that which the Greeks call the
Anaphora or oblation, and the Latins the Canon Missae, or rule
for celebrating the Eucharist. But when I came to set about
this work according to my promise, I found that the Ambrosian
and Gelasian Liturgies, at least what Pamelius and Thomasius
have published under those names, differed not, in this part which
I proposed to publish, from the present Roman Missal or Mass

* § xxx., xxxiii.

A DISSERTATION &C. 129

book : and therefore contented myself to publish that Canon
according to the present form used in the church of Rome. And
when I came to examine the ancient Gothick and Galilean
Liturgies as published by Mabillon, I found there was no com
plete Liturgy now extant as used in these churches, but only
some fragments of the communion service dispersed here and
there in several offices for Sundays and Saints' days ; to many of
which fragments 1 bave here collected, as may be sufficient to
shew that they agreed with the other Liturgies in the matter now
in dispute. Finding also, in the same book of Mabillon, some
fragments of the Mozarabick or ancient African and Spanish
Liturgy ; I have added also such of those fragments, as I thought
sufficient to let the reader see, that they differed not from other
churches in these controverted points. I have also added several
other Liturgies, amongst which is the first Liturgy of King-
Edward VI., more than I promised, of which I purpose to speak
more particularly hereafter. And having by these Liturgies
proved what was universally observed by all churches, T have
subjoined the account given by Justin Martyr, concerning the
manner of celebrating the Eucharist in his days, within fifty
years after the death of St. John ; and whilst many of the imme
diate disciples of the apostles were still living. Also one of the
Mystagogical Catechisms of St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem,
written about twenty-five years after the Council of Nice; which
are good evidences of the antiquity of these controverted points.
For Justin Martyr plainly testifies concerning the mixing water
with the sacramental wine, and St. Cyril testifies concerning
prayer for the dead, the invocation, and oblation. So that St. Justin
and St. Cyril testify concerning the antiquity of these things, and
the Liturgies shew the Universality and Consent : and all toge
ther are a full testimony, that we have Antiquity, Universality,
and Consent, for all the points for which we contend. 13 ut I
have not published the discourses of these two fathers upon this
subject, for want of other testimonies of pri mo-primitive antiquity,
but because these two are the only fathers who lived before the
Council of Nice, or were contemporary with that council, that
have been any thing particular concerning the manner of cele
brating the Eucharist : what the other fathers have said concerning
that matter, being only occasional, and not in any set discourse
on that subject.

130 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

For, as the learned Mr. Johnson has judiciously observed,*
"That though the fathers treated freely and apertly in their
homilies or sermons to the Catechumens, as well as the faithful,
on the other lieads of Christian faith ; yet the doctrine of the
sacraments, especially the Eucharist, they reserved for them only,
whom they thought fit to receive them. The reasons the}/ had
for the concealment of these mysteries, were, in some, to shew
the great esteem they had of them, and which they by this means
endeavoured to imprint upon all that were admitted to the knbw-
ledge and enjoyment of them ; and at the same time, to guard,
and if possible secure these holy institutions from the flouts and
objections of Jews and Heathen, and of all whom they thought
too light and frothy, to be entrusted with things so very weighty
and serious, and yet of so peculiar a nature, that there was
nothing in the world that could be compared unto them : for they
justly believed that the sacraments were consecrated by the Holy
'Ghost, and that therefore a divine power went along with them,
which was reason enough why they should set the highest value
upon them, and desire that others should do so too; and yet
they knew the visible signs of these sacraments to be beggarly
elements, things in their own nature very cheap and common ;
and they might without the gifts of prophecy easily foresee, that
the enemies of Christianity would always be ringing in the ears
of all that were well affected to Christianity, (as Deists and
Quakers are perpetually labouring to persuade our people) that
there can be no such effects of water, bread, and wine, as the
Priests of the Christian church would have them believe : and
there is one thing particular to the Eucharist, which made it
more liable to the scoffs of anti-christian spirits, than any other
part of our religion , which is that the bread and wine were
believed to be the very body and blood of Christ ; no wonder if
they were much upon the reserve in this point ; since all must be
sensible, that nothing in the Christian theology could have
afforded more agreeable entertainment to the drolls and buffoons
of the age ; for whatsoever is most extraordinary, and elevated
above the condition of other things, which seem to be of the same
sort, lies most exposed to profane wit and mirth ; when that
which gives it its worth and excellency, can only be believed,

* Unbloody Sacrifice, vol. 1., p. 231.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 131

and not seen : and no doubt but Tertullian spoke the sense of all
the learned fathers of his own, and of the succeeding times, in
those observable words, 'There is nothing does so much harden
the minds of men, as the simplicity of the divine ministrations,
which is seen in the outward action ; and the magnificence, as
to their efficacy, which is promised to us.'* If the ancient church
had had no other notion of the Eucharist, than that which now
prevails among too many ; that it is only a refreshing of our
memory, and a symbol of love, or a fcederal right ; I can see no
occasion why they should set such a guard about it, and use such
a solicitous caution against exposing it to the eyes and ears of
the profaners The Heathen philosophers and the Jewish Rabbles
could scarce sink it lower than the Armimans and Socinians
have done of late : and the candid Pliny gives us as gentleman
like an account of it, in his letter to Trajan the emperor, as some
that go for Christian divines in these latter ages. I am sensible,
that the ancient fathers have been damned for Priest-craft, upon
the score of their drawing a veil before the Christian mysteries ;
for it is by our sciolists represented as popery, to hide mysteries
from the eyes of others. But now, I am apt to think, that if the
Papists affected only to conceal their sacraments from the sight
and knowledge of bigoted Jews, Turks, or Heathens, who were
ready to profane, or however to loathe and despise them ; no man
that has a due regard for those holy institutions would think them
culpable upon this account. The fault of the ruling part of the
church of Rome, is not that they keep their own people from the
sight or knowledge of their sacraments ; for this they do not ; but
that they use a great deal of art and severity, in restraining their
laity from looking into the bible and other books, by which they
might be informed of the errors of that church, in things relating
to the sacrament and other heads of Christianity. The primitive
church not only permitted, but exhorted the laity to read the
scriptures ; and took care to instruct and train up all the people
in the knowledge of the Eucharist, and all other saving doctrines
of Christianity ; and withheld their mysteries from none, but such
as they had good reason to believe, would scorn and deride, rather
than believe or make a proper use of them. The Catechumens
were a sort of people in a middle state, candidates or probationers

* Tort ul. cle Bapt. mox ab initio.

132 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

only for Christianity ; and as soon as the governors of the church
were satisfied, that they were fixed, and settled in the helief of
the general doctrines of the gospel, such as were frequently read
to them out of scripture, and explained in the sermons or homilies
of the pastors ; they were at their own request baptized, and so
forthwith let into all the mysteries of religion ; and I wish *vdth
all my heart, that they who make the bread and wine to be mere
symbols, empty of all divine grace, may not pour contempt on
this doctrine of the Eucharist, as it was received in the primitive
church ; and thereby give us a fresh proof that the ancients were
obliged in common prudence, to conceal the nature of this mys
tery, from all that were not initiated ; and so at the same time
justify the ancient fathers, and condemn themselves. For if they
who would now be thought best to understand Christianity, and
despise the ancients, as men that were not such critics in lan
guages as themselves, shall reject these notions of the Eucharist,
as vain and groundless, which the fathers with good reason thought,
they learned from our Saviour and his apostles ; how much more
may it be supposed that they would do the same, who had been
born and bred Jews and Heathens ; and that were blinded with
violent prejudice against Christianity itself? However, that awe
and reverence with which the ancients treated the holy Eucharist,
and the care they took that their converts should do so too, is an
unexceptionable proof, that they looked upon it as the most holy
and venerable institution of the Christian church, as a spiritual
mystery, not to be divulged to any, till they had given sufficient
proof of their integrity."

I have transcribed this long paragraph from this learned author's
excellent and most judicious book concerning the Eucharist,
(which book 1 wish every one, but especially the clergy of the
established church, would carefully read and consider) that the
reader might see and judge what good reasons the ancients had
to be cautious in speaking publicly concerning these sacred
mysteries ; for that in fact they did so, he takes as generally
granted, and therefore does not prove it. But forasmuch as we
live in an age which will take nothing without proofs, how
generally soever granted, I think it may be proper to shew from
the ancients themselves, that they were thus cautious and careful
not to reveal the mysteries of their religion, and particularly the

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 133

doctrine of the Eucharist to all persons indifferently. It was our
Saviour's own command to his disciples ; " Give not that which
is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they
trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."*
Now by that which is holy, and by pearls, he plainly meant the
great truths and mysteries of the religion which he taught, which
he would not have exposed to dogs and swine, that is, such as
would scorn and despise them. And accordingly we find, that
he himself, when he did not directly teach moral duties, but
spake of any thing appertaining in an especial manner to his own
religion which he was about to establish, and saw expedient to
do this before the multitude, generally spake in parables ; and
when " the disciples came and said unto him, why speakest thou
to them in parables ? He answered and said unto them, because
it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it is not given."f For " without a parable spake he
not unto them, and when they were alone he expounded all things
to his disciples."| And when he gave his directions concerning
the ministration of his two great sacraments, baptism, and the
holy Eucharist, he had none present with him but the apostles. ||
Nay, he did not think fit to discover to his very apostles all the
mysteries of his religion at once, but gradually, saying, " I have
yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."§
And that the apostles acted in the same manner, is plain from
St. Paul's words to the Corinthians, saying, " I have fed you with
milk, and not with strong meat ; for hitherto ye were not able to
bear it, neither yet now are ye able."H And he tells us that
" every one that useth milk, is unskilful in the word of righteous
ness ; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that
are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil."** From whence it is,
1 think, evident, that they did not make all persons indiscrimi
nately acquainted with all the mysteries of Christianity. They
had milk, or easy plain doctrines, for novices or babes, and mys
teries, or higher doctrines, for such as were proficients. And that
the doctrine of the Eucharist was one of those things which they

* Matt. vii. 6. f Ibid. xiii. 10, 1 1. + Mark iv. 34.
Matt, xxviii. 16., and xxvi. 20. § John xvi. 12. «[j 1 Cor. iii. 2.
** Heb. v. 13, 14.

134 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

kept secret from such as were not admitted to partake of it, is
more than probable, from the short account which is given of that
matter, in the scriptures of the New Testament, every book of
which 'was written for the general use of all Christians ; and being
so written and published, could not be kept altogether from falling
also into the hands of the Jews and Heathens : as we may judge
by examining all the texts relating to this great mystery ; which
being not many, I think it proper to produce them on this occasion.

"As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and
brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is
my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to
them, saying, Drink ye all of this ; for this is my blood of the
New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the
remission of sins."* " And as they did eat, Jesus took bread,
and blessed, and brake it, and gave it to them, and said, Take,
eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had
given thanks, 'he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And
he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many."t " And he took bread, and gave thanks,
and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which
is given for you : this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also
the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in
my blood, which is shed for you."t This is all we have con
cerning this matter in the four evangelists ; for St,_John says
nothing of this institution. And it is observable, that neither
St. Matthew nor St. Mark says one word of any obligation that
Christ laid upon his followers to do as he had done. They only
give a plain narrative of what Christ did just before he was
betrayed, at the conclusion of his paschal supper. But as to any
command to his disciples to break bread and eat it, and to drink
of the cup afterwards in remembrance of him, or that this should
be done by all Christians, they are perfectly silent. But St. Luke
adds the words, " Do this in remembrance of me," with regard
to the breaking and distribution of the bread, which Christ called
his body ; but then he says nothing of their obligation, also, to
give and receive the cup in commemoration of him. This account
which the evangelists have given of this matter, is therefore far

* Matt. xxvi. 26—28. f Mark xiv. 22— 24. + Luke xxii< 19' 20<

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 135

from being a full direction how we should celebrate the com
munion ; neither does it appear from them, that we are obliged
to celebrate it at all, at least not the communion of the cup. For
though Christ before his death gave the bread and the cup to his
disciples, yet it does not appear from two of the evangelists, that
lie required any to do the same afterwards ; neither does the third
teach us, that he required more, than to break and distribute the
bread, but does not say that he ordered the same with regard to
the cup. However, this was sufficient for Christians, who knew
by the practice of the church, that this which Christ did was to
be done also by them in remembrance of him : but was far from
sufficient to acquaint the Jews or the Heathens, (who could not
be kept from reading these gospels when they were published)
from knowing that when the Christians were met together, they
did do, or offer bread or a cup, and after eat and drink it, in
remembrance of Christ. So also St. Luke, in the Acts of the
Apostles,* speaks of the Christians meeting to break bread, which
those that were instructed in the mysteries of our religion, under
stood well enough to mean their meeting to celebrate the holy
communion. But others not so instructed would not know what
to make of it. Now considering how careful the Christian church
was afterwards, to conceal these mysteries from all but the initi
ated ; I can see no other reason why the writers oi the gospels,
and the Acts of the Apostles, wrote no plainer concerning this
sacred and necessary institution, but only that it was not, unless
necessity so required, to be discovered to any but such as had a
right to partake of it. And for this reason Mr. Johnson supposes
that St. Paul, in his parallel betwixt our Saviour and Melchise-
deck, omits to mention Melchisedeck's bringing forth bread and
wine as the prefiguration of the Christian Eucharist,f which he
proves by the authority of St. Jerora, who says on this occasion,
" There was much to be said, and hard to be uttered ; not that
the apostle could not have explained it, but because it was not
seasonable at that time ; for he was discoursing with the
Hebrews, who were not yet confirmed in the faith ; to whom he
must have discovered the sacraments."! Upon which Mr. John
son proceeds and says, " The father supposes, that St. Paul did

* Acts ii. 42. 46., and xx. 7. f Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 54.
J Hieron torn. 3., p. 27., ad Evagrium.

136 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

not think it proper to discourse of the sacrament familiarly to
people, who were not yet fully settled in Christianity ; which he
apprehended to be the case of many of those, to whom this epistle
was to be communicated. How far we may rely on this single
judgment of St. Jerom, I presume not to determine : but I can
not but observe, that St. Paul does never, in any of his epistles,
make any plain mention of the sacrament, except in the first to
the Corinthians. And perhaps the reason why he did it not, was,
that his epistles were to be read in the public assembly, where
there might be many present that were not thought fit hearers of
that mystery ; and if it be asked, why then did he speak of it so
freely in the first epistle to the Corinthians ? I can but guess at
the occasion, and it might be this : that the innovators there had
permitted all the loose retainers to the Christian church to
approach the Lord's table, without being instructed in the nature
of the Eucharist. If this had not been the case, it is scarce
accountable, how some that received the Eucharist in that
church, should not discern the Lord's body, or know what it was
that they received ; and when by this means these loose retainers
to the church knew what that outward solemnity of the Eucharist
was, St. Paul could no longer consider it as a secret ; and there
fore, instead of that silence, or those short hints concerning that
ordinance, which are so remarkable in all his other writings, he
here endeavours at large to rectify their notions and practice in
this matter ; and if the weakness of understanding and judgment
in relation to Christianity, were any reason why St. Paul should
forbear to speak of the Eucharist in words at length ; then cer
tainly the Hebrews, to whom he wrote, (at least a considerable
part of them) were as indifferently qualified as any men, to have
a discovery of these mysteries communicated to them in pnblic ;
for the apostle, in this very epistle, gives a sad account of their
ignorance and dulness.* It is true, the apostle complains of the
Corinthians too, for being babes, and not yet able to bear strong-
meat, f But as has been intimated, it was not in the apostle's
power to conceal the outward part of the mystery from them, who
by the countenance of their new teachers had been emboldened
to break in upon the celebration of the Eucharist, without being
duly qualified ; and therefore the only way that he had left him,

* Heb. v. 12, 13. f I Cor. iii. 1, 2.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 137

to prevent their contempt and abuse of it, was to Jet them into
the fuller knowledge of it : but it does not appear that lie had
any such motive to do this to the Hebrews, or to any of the other
people, to whom he wrote his epistles." So that as I said before,
all the apostles and evangelists seem to have concealed what re
lated to the celebration of the Eucharist, and discovered only so
much as the occasion which they wrote necessarily required.
We will therefore now see what St. Paul has said of it, who
is larger on this subject than any of the evangelists. " I received
of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord
Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread:
and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat :
this is my body, which is broken for you : this do in remembrance
of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he
had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my
blood; this do ye, as oft a£ ye drink it, in remembrance of me."*
This is the fullest account the scripture any where gives concern
ing the eucliarist. Insomuch that it has been commonly taken
for granted in the Western parts of the world, that to recite these
words of St. Paul over the elements of bread and wine is all that
is necessary to the consecration of the eucliarist. The Romanists,
as appears from the Rubric in their Missal or Mass Book, make
the whole consecration of the elements to consist in those words,
This is my body, This is my blood. The Lutherans and Calvin-
ists both agree, that the consecration is made by the bare
repeating these words of St. Paul. For in the book of " Reform
ation of Doctrine, Administration of the Divine Sacraments," &c.
drawn up and published by the authority of Herman, Archbishop
of Colen, in the year 1543. (Which f Book o<" Reformation was
compiled by the joint labour and agreement of Philip Melanctlion,
Luther's inseparable friend, and the writer of the Apology for the
Augustan Confession, which all the Lutherans subscribed, and
by Martin Bucer, one of the first heads of the Calvinist party,
and who had a great hand in reforming our first reformation) in the
form of administering of the Lord's Supper we have these words,
(as they are contained in an old English Translation of that book,
printed at London, by John Day, in the year 1547. " Let the
Priest synge the words of the Lorde's Supper in Douch. Our

* I Cor. xi. 23 — 2.5. f Melchior Adam, in Vit. Melancth. p. 341,

T

138 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Lorde the nyghte in whiche lie was delivered, &c. But these
wordes must be songe of the Priest wyth great reverence, and
plainly, that they may be well understanded of all men. And
the people shall say to these words, Amen. Whiche all the old
Clmrche observed, and the Grekes do yet observe the same. For
the whole substance of this sacrament, is conteyned in these
wordes. And it consisteth altogether in the true understanding
and fayth of these wordes: that the sacrament be holesomely
administered and received." And the whole form of consecration
in the Church of England consists in the recital of these words
of St. Paul, as appears from the consecration prayer and the
Rubric following, where it is directed, that if the consecrated
bread and wine be all spent before all have communicated, the
Priest is to consecrate more, according to the form before
prescribed: beginning at OUR SAVIOUR CHRIST, IN THE SAME
NIGHT, &c. Which Rubric plainly shews, that in the opinion
of the Church of England, nothing more is requisite to the
consecration of the bread and wine, than these words of St. Paul,
which are set down in the consecration prayer. But it is no
where said by St. Paul, that he delivered this as the form of
consecration. Neither does it appear by his words, that he
intended to inform us what was necessary to the consecration.
His design evidently was to correct the error of such as came
ignorantly to the holy communion, and received the sacred
elements without considering what it was they received, "Not
discerning the Lord's body, and so eating and drinking unworthily,
they eat and drank a judgment against themselves."* And he in
no wise blames the Corinthians, as being in any manner defective
in their method of consecrating or administering the communion,
either in this or the foregoing chapter, or any where else, but
only reproves the unworthy receivers ; teaching them, that what
they take on this solemn occasion, is not to be esteemed bare
common bread and wine, but the body and blood of Christ : and
in order to this, reminds them of what he taught and delivered to
those whom he admitted to those holy mysteries whilst he was
amongst them ; and then tells them what Christ did in the night
in which he was betrayed, and how he commanded the same to
be done in remembrance of him. Consequently, when this

* 1 Cor. xi. 29.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 139

sacrament was consecrated and administered as Christ appointed,
the bread and the cup were as much the body and blood of
Christ, as that which he himself consecrated and gave to his
disciples; and therefore he adds, "Whosoever shall eat this
bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord. All this is then plainly spoken
to the communicants, and not the ministers of this sacrament.
It is an instruction to them to consider what is administered to
them, and how they ought to receive it, but does not appear to
be any direction to the ministrator how or in what manner he
was to consecrate the elements, or with what words he was to
bless, eucharistize, or give thanks, over them. He plainly sup
poses, that the administrators of the eucharist had rightly per
formed their parts, (bating their not excluding the ignorant and
unworthy from partaking the divine mysteries) otherwise he
would not have instructed the communicants only, but the
administrators also. Neither would he have told the communi
cants, that they received the Lord's body, though they did not
discern it, if what had been given to them had not been con
secrated in such manner as to be made the Lord's body, in such
a sense as Christ intended it should be understood to be so.
Neither doth St. Paul say one word what liquor was to be in the
cup, which would have been necessary, if he had intended to
direct the minister of this sacrament what he was to say and do
on this occasion. He speaks indeed, in the * foregoing chapter,
of " the cup of blessing which we bless, and the bread which we
break ; but he tells us not with what words this blessing is to be
performed. He speaks of it as a thing known to all communi
cants, at least to those whose office it was to bless the bread and
the cup, and gives no directions how it is to be performed.
Therefore it is evident, that in this epistle, the only place where
this apostle has clearly spoken of the eucharist, he has given us
no form of consecration, though he plainly intimates, that the
cup, and consequently the bread, is to be consecrated or blessed.
A sure token that he was cautious in an epistle designed to be
read publicly by all, how he said more of this matter than was
absolutely necessary for his present purpose^ which was to instruct
those who came ignorantly and unworthily to the sacrament, and

* i Cor. x. 16.

140 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

to convince them that they could not be partakers of the Lord'*
table and the table of devils, and that they ought not to receive
it as common bread and wine without discerning the Lord's body.
He had a fair opportunity of saying more than this ; but not
finding it absolutely necessary to do so, there being no abuse
introduced in what concerned the consecration, he chose to pass
that over in silence. For it is evident, he has not told us with
what words Christ gave thanks, or consecrated the elements
before he gave them to his disciples as his body and blood.
Neither has he told us with what words the apostles gave thanks
or consecrated afterwards. The words, Take, eat, this is my
body, which is broken for you, are plainly not all the words by
which Christ consecrated the bread and wine ; for St. Paul and
the three evangelists all tell us, that he gave thanks, eueharistized?
and blessed the elements before he said the words, Take, eat, $c.
that is, his giving thanks, or blessing the bread and the cup in
the manner he had then done, and bidding them Take, eat, Sfc.
was to instruct them that this was not like the ordinary blessing
or thanksgiving which he was wont to make at his sitting down
to a common meal, but such as had actually made that bread and
cup which he then gave them to be the flesh and blood which he
before promised to give them, which " whoso eateth and drinketh,
hath eternal life."* That flesh which he had made to be meat
indeed, and that blood which he had made to be drink indeed.
Nothing, 1 think, can be plainer from St. Paul and the evangelists,
than that our Saviour did not entirely consecrate with these
words, which now both Papists and Protestants have taught to
be the only form of consecration : whereas the words themselves
are partly a summary narrative of what Christ did and commanded
us to do in remembrance of him ; but the form of blessing or
thanksgiving, which was part of the consecration, is passed over
in silence ; only we are assured that there was such a blessing or
thanksgiving, which may convince us that the apostles and
evangelists were cautious in speaking of these mysteries, and were
unwilling to set down every thing belonging to them in a book,
which they intended should be read publicly, and be put into all
men's hands. It is also to be observed, that those words, Take,
eat, ttiis is my body, Drink ye all of this, for iliis is my blood,

* John vi. 54, -55.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 141

were not spoken by our Saviour by way of prayer, oblation, or
thanksgiving to God the Father, but were directed to his disciples
to inform them what he had already done, and what he required
them to do. Therefore it cannot be said that he wholly conse
crated the bread and wine by these words ; for entire consecration
requires the oblation or dedication of something to God, and
therefore is not to be made by words directed, only to men : but
these words of our Saviour, in which the moderns in this Western
part of the world, both Papists and Protestants, now place the
whole form of consecration, are not the words which Christ
directed to God, but which he directed to his disciples after he
had blessed or given thanks, and so partly consecrated the
elements, and made an oblation of them to the Father. And
forasmuch as the scriptures have not taught us with what words
either Christ or his apostles did bless the eucharistic elements ;
and forasmuch as his blessing of them was part of the consecra
tion, it is evident that the scriptures have not taught us the whole
form of consecrating the eucharist.

§ 5. If we descend from the apostles to the primo-primitive
fathers of the three first centuries, we shall find them no less
careful to conceal these Christian mysteries from all that were not
initiated and baptized in the Christian Church, and so admitted
to the participation of them. They have indeed frequently
mentioned the eucharist ; they have mentioned bread and wine
and water, there offered as an anti-type or perfect representative
of the body and blood of Christ. They have spoken of a thanks
giving, of an oblation, and of an invocation of the Holy Ghost :
they have in the words of St. Paul, or of the evangelists, taught
us what Christ did and commanded us to do; but they have none
of them taught us with what words they gave thanks, made their
oblation, or invocated the Holy Ghost. Let any one read over
the collection which Mr. Johnson has made from the fathers in
the Appendix to the first volume of his Unbloody Sacrifice ; and
he will find that, though there are several evidences from them
that there was constantly a thanksgiving, an oblation, and an
invocation of the Holy Ghost; yet with what words these things
were performed, is not set down by any of them, but is to be
found in the Liturgies only. Even Justin Martyr himself,
though he has given the largest account of the manner of cele-

142 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

brating the eucharist, of any father who lived before the council
of Nice, yet is perfectly silent as to the form of consecration.
He mentions indeed a prayer of great length used on that occa
sion ; but what that prayer was, he tells us not. Now Justin
Martyr in his Apology for the Christians lay under a necessity of
discovering to the Roman emperors so much of the Christian
mysteries, or of the sacrament of the eucharist as he has done,
because these mysteries being always celebrated in secret, and
none admitted to the sight of them, but such as were also allowed
to be partakers of them, the Heathens, as we learn from this *
very Apology, spread abroad scandalous stories of the Christians,
as if when they met together thus privately for the celebration of
their mysteries, they put out the candles, and copulated promis
cuously, and devoured human Jlesh, and committed many other
lewd and abominable acts mentioned by Minutius Felix, and
others of the fathers, who found it necessary to refute these
stories. Therefore Justin Martyr was forced to acquaint the
emperors with what the Christians really did when they met
together, that he might satisfy them, that the Christians were
guilty of none of those abominations of which they were accused
by Heathens, or such persons as had never been admitted to
their sacred mysteries. However, he still concealed from them
as much as he could, and only mentions their making a long
eucharistic prayer, but does not inform them of the particulars of
that prayer. And as Justin, so also the other fathers are careful
to mention no more concerning the eucharist, than what they
were necessitated to do. But not to spend time in a long proof
of that which will soon be evident to those that will give them
selves the trouble to read the fathers, I will produce two or three
positive testimonies from the fathers concerning this matter : not
to repeat the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus, which I pro
duced in my f postscript to my discourse of Tradition. 1 shall
begin with Tertullian, who in order to shew there could be no
proof of those scandalous stories which the Heathens had raised
of the Christians, observes that the Christians, no less than the
worshippers of other gods, took particular care to keep their
mysteries secret. " If you say," says he, " that these abomina
tions are always done in secret, pray when and by whom came
you to this knowledge ? Not by the guilty themselves, for you
* $ 35. f pp. 155, 156.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 143

know that the persons admitted into the mysteries of all religions
are by the very form of admission under the severest obligations
to secrecy. The Samothracian and Eleusinian mysteries, you
know, are covered in profound silence ; how much more reason
able is it therefore to think, that such as these will be kept in the
dark, which not only treasure up divine wrath against the day of
judgment, but if once discovered will whet human justice to the
highest pitch of vengeance. If therefore Christians betray not
themselves, it follows that they must be betrayed by those of
another religion; but how shall strangers be able to inform
against us, when even the most pious mysteries are defended
from the approaches of the stranger and the profane ? " * Origen t
having occasion to mention those words of our Saviour, " This is
my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins," forbears
to make any explication of them, saying, " He that is initiated
into our mysteries, knows both the flesh and the blood of the
word of God. Let us not therefore dwell on these matters, which
are known to the intelligent, and cannot be laid open to the
ignorant." St. Cyril of Jerusalem, one of whose Mystagogical
Catechisms I have added to the preceding Liturgies, which were
Catechetical Lectures made to those only who had been admitted
to the participation of the holy mysteries, and not promiscuously
to all persons indifferently, as you may be convinced from the
beginning of the fourth Mystagogical Lecture, tells those he
instructed before he begins his Lectures, that they must be very
careful to conceal that which they are taught, and not discover it
to others. " When," says he, " a Catechetical Lecture is read, if
a Catechumen shall enquire of you what your teachers have said,
discover nothing to those that are without. For we deliver to
you a mystery and the hope of the life to come. Keep this
mystery till your Rewarder comes : nor regard any one that says,
what hurt can it be, if I also learn it ? " £ I might add a great

* Tertul. Apologetic, cap. 7. Mr. Reeve's Translation.

f Hie Sanguis meus est, qui pro vobis eft'undetur in remissionem peccatorum.
Novit, qui Mysteriis imbutus est, & carnem, & sanguinem verbi Dei. Non
ergo immoremur in his quae &, scientibus iiota sunt, &, ignorantibus patere non
possunt. — Orig. Horn. 9. in Levit. non longe a fin.

J "Ore TOIVVV XaT^IXtJffl^ ^yiJTai, f.av (re Kanj^fievoQ E&raffy TL iipijKctGiv 01
SiddrTKOVTts, [iijdev Xey€ TOO t£o>' [tv^yptov yap rroi Trapalidopiv, /cat tXTrida /i£\\oi/TOf
m'ah'Of. Trjptjaov TO p.v?i')piov ra» fjuffSairoSoTri' jur) Trork TIS ftV?;, ri /SXcnm/ iav
/ca'yw ndSrot; Cyril. Hierosol. prcefat ad Catcchet. §. 7.

144 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

many more testimonies of the same nature, to shew that the
fathers were careful to conceal the mysteries of the Christian
religion ; but I hope these may be sufficient in a matter which I
do not know is denied by any one.

§ 6. Therefore since both the apostles, and their successors
for several ages, were so careful to conceal the Christian mys
teries, and to speak of them no farther than necessity sometimes
obliged them, it is not to be wondered at, if we can find no one
ancient treatise on this subject, particularly describing every part
of the eucharistical service, excepting the Liturgies of the
several churches whose antiquity is questioned by many of the
moderns, and the fourth and fifth Mystagogical Catechisms of
St. Cyril, which were not written till a little after the Council of
Nice. However, though the fathers have been thus cautious in
treating of the eucharist, and been careful to conceal the full
knowledge of it from all but those who were admitted to it, yet
being obliged to speak occasionally of it, they have in several
places, and at several times, mentioned all the essential parts, of
it as we find them in the several Liturgies. And there are no
forms wherein all the Liturgies agree, but what may be confirmed
by passages taken from the writings of the Ante-Nicene fathers:
which is a sufficient testimony for the antiquity of these forms,
as the Liturgies themselves are a testimony of the universality
and consent in the usage of them, since one or other of the
Liturgies here published was anciently used in all the known
parts of the Christian world. I will therefore observe in what
points all these Liturgies agree, in sense I mean, though not in
words, and will then shew what the Ante-Nicene fathers have
written in confirmation of these points. And this, I conceive,
will be sufficient evidence that whatever interpolations may have
been made in these Liturgies in after ages, these passages
wherein they all agree with one another, and with the Ante-
Nicene fathers, have not been interpolated. For what is it that
makes us judge there are interpolations in all these Liturgies, but
that we find some things in them, wherein they differ from one
another, and which cannot be confirmed by the testimony of the
most ancient fathers ? Where therefore any Liturgy has a
particular rite peculiar to itself, it is evident that rite wants
universality and consent, and where it wants the testimony of the

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 145

Ante-Nicene fathers, it also wants antiquity, consequently it fails
in all the particulars requisite to an Apostolical Tradition. But
where all the Liturgies agree, there is plainly universality and
consent; and where that agreement may be also proved by
testimonies of the Ante-Nicene fathers, there is antiquity also :
and what has antiquity, universality, and consent, to support it,
has ever been esteemed to be derived from Apostolical Tradition,
as I trust I have sufficiently proved in my Treatise of Tradition,
to which I refer the reader.

§ 7. I have acknowledged in that * discourse, and given my
reasons for it, that none of these Liturgies (excepting the Cle
mentine) were written before St. Basil's time, about fifty years
after the Council of Nice ; but were delivered by Tradition only.
And therefore though they all agree in sense, yet they differ in
words, and in the manner of expression, which could not be
otherwise in a matter handled by Tradition. For where several
persons say or relate the same thing, if they do not all use or
follow one written form, they will differ in the form or manner of
expression ; but if they agree in sense, that is reckoned sufficient.
We may see this even in the inspired writers. St. Matthew and
St. Luke differ in some words even in that short form called the
Lord's Prayer; and every one of the three Evangelists, who have
given us an account of the institution of the holy eucharist, have
used some different words in the relation of it; and St. Paul
differs in words from all of them: nevertheless, they agree in
sense, which is sufficient to satisfy us, that they all wrote
conformably to the truth, and agreeably to what had been
delivered to them, either by the Lord himself, or Apostolical
Tradition. For St Mark and St. Luke were neither of them
present when our Lord instituted this sacrament; neither does it
appear that they had the account of it by immediate Revelation
from Christ, as St. Paul may seem to have had the account
which he has given of it: at least we are assured that St. Luke
received what he tells us f not immediately from Christ, but as
they delivered them, who from the beginning were eye witnesses.
However, this different way by which the Apostles and Evange
lists came by their knowledge concerning the institution of the

* § 28, &f. f Luke i. 4.

146 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

euchavist, and the different words in which they have related it,
was never thought a material difference, because they all agree
in sense ; and the same may be said with regard to these Litur
gies, where they agree in sense, though not in words, it is
evident that there is no material difference between them. Now
forasmuch as the Clementine Liturgy is certainly the oldest
written Liturgy which has been transmitted to us, and that
Liturgy contains not any thing but what is also to be found in
all the other Liturgies, except a Rubric or two of very little
moment; by examining that Liturgy particularly, we may easily
discover whatever the ancients thought necessary or essential to
the ministration of the holy eucharist.

§ 8. 1 know indeed, that Renaudotius,* though he allows this
Liturgy to have been compiled before the Council of Nice, and
owns that the most learned men have deservedly judged it to be
so, yet allows but little authority to it, because, as he pretends,
it is very much interpolated, and was never used in any of the
Eastern churches. These two objections therefore I think it
will be proper to consider in the first place. Now as to the
interpolations objected to this Liturgy, it is observable that it is
only a general charge made without any mention of particulars.
And therefore if I should give only a general answer denying
that charge, it would be sufficient till particulars are produced.
But he says that " as to what concerns the order of the Liturgy,
every thing is so clearly and minutely explained, that it is
manifest many things are added, which can agree only with the
latter discipline of the Church, when she was in peace, and not
disturbed by persecutions." f However, this is still but a general
charge ; he does not so much as mention one of those things
which he supposes to have been manifestly added. But now if
this Liturgy contains nothing but what the Ante-Nicene fathers
one or other of them give their testimony to, as I shall prove it
does, when I come to examine it more particularly, then it will
be evident that it is so far from containing many things incon
sistent with the persecuted state of the Church, that it will

* Dissertat. de liturgiarum Orientalium Origine & Autoritate, p. x.

f Liturgiae ordo tara perspicufe & minutatira expositus, ut ex posteriori
disciplina, quae Ecclesias paeem agenti, non persecutionibus agitatae conveniat,
addita mult.a esse manifestum est. Ibid.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 147

appear not to contain any one thing but what actually was
practised by the Church during that state. For every body
knows that the persecutions ceased not till a little before the
Council of Nice. Indeed at the beginning of this Liturgy
mention is made of a fly-flap to be used by the deacons to drive
away those little animals, which in hot countries are very
troublesome, that they might not fall into any of the consecrated
vessels, and of the bishop's shining garment. But then it is to
be considered, that this is only a Rubric : and therefore if it
should be allowed to be an interpolation, is of no great con
sequence to invalidate the authority of this Liturgy. For Renau-
dotius himself has observed, "That few of the manuscript
Liturgical books have any Rubrics, or short ritual directions, and
that the Rubrics are left out in almost all the ancient ones;
which is observable in both the Greek and Latin Missals"*
This therefore, being but a Rubric, ought, according to
Renaudotius's account of the matter, to be looked upon as no real
part of the Liturgical office, but a mere modern addition, which
is not in the ancient manuscripts, But admitting that this
Rubric is in the most ancient MSS. of this Liturgy, and that
there is no MS. now extant that wants it, consequently that we
have no authority to expunge it as not belonging to this Liturgy,
does it therefore follow that it must be esteemed an interpolation
inserted after the empire became Christian ? Is it inconsistent
with the state of persecution ? Are flies less busy in a time of
persecution so as to make a fly-flap less necessary in hot countries
at such a time, than in a time when the Church is in a state of
peace and quietness ? or, were the persecutors so watchful that
they did not dare make a fly -flap ? Then as to the bishop's
shining garment : this may perhaps be thought an habit not likely
to be used in a time of persecution. If we understand by it a
fine rich embroidered garment, of great price, yet it will not
follow that the Christian bishops could not wear such a garment
when they officiated during the three first centuries, though they
were under many severe persecutions during that time: for
notwithstanding the persecutions, they had frequently pretty long

* Pauci adjunctus hahcnt rubricas, sen breves rituum leges : qu;i> in antiquis
prope omnibus desunt; quani eonsuetudinem observare lieet in Missalibus
Grtecis & Latiuis. Comment, ad Liturg. Copt. St. Basil, p. 175.

148 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

intervals of peace, * and they received such encouragement some
time before the last persecution under Dioclesian, that they
pulled down the old edifices where they were wont to meet, and
built large churches from the ground in all Cities. And when
the Christians were capable of building large churches, no one
can question either their will or ability to furnish the bishop
with a rich habit to officiate in. Nay as the Christians were
numerous, and many of them rich and very liberal to the bishop
and his clergy during the three first centuries, before the emperor
himself became Christian, and the persecutions entirely ceased,
I cannot see but the bishop might have a rich habit to put on
when he ministered the eucharist during that time as well as
afterwards. If we understand by a shining garment only a white
linen garment, such as we now call an alb or a surplice, (as I
conceive we may very well do) we have the authority of Pontius,
St. Cyprian's deacon, to satisfy us that the bishop was, in the
third century at least, accustomed to wear a linen garment when
he officiated. For he tells us, in his life of that holy martyr f
that St. Cyprian being led to the palace, the Proconsul being not
yet come forth, he was carried into a by-place, where he rested
himself upon a seat, which by chance was covered with a linen
cloth, " that so even in the hour of his passion he might enjoy
some part of the episcopal honour." Now unless the bishop in
those days had been wont to wear a linen garment when he
officiated, I see not how this accidentally resting himself on a
seat covered with linen could be reckoned a part of episcopal
honour. Therefore, whether we understand the shining garment
mentioned in the Rubric of the Clementine Liturgy to be a rich
costly garment, or only a white linen garment, I do not see that
either way it is incompatible with the state of the Church in
those first ages ; or that it can agree only with the latter discip
line of the Church, when she was in peace, and not disturbed by
persecutions, as Renaudotius pretends. However, I am not
much concerned whether this Rubric be an interpolation or not,
and am very willing to give it up as such, it being a very
indifferent matter what means is used to keep flies from falling
into the consecrated vessels, or what habit the bishop or officiat
ing priest wears at that time. I have only taken notice of it,

* Euseb. Hist. Ecclcs. Lib. viii. cap. I. f Pont, in vit. Cyprian, p. 15.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 149

because I thought it the only passage in this whole Liturgy, that
could look like an interpolation, though Renaudotius charges it
with many, notwithstanding he could not give one instance.
And I trust that I have shewed, that even this, which looks most
like an interpolation of any, has nothing in it disagreeable to the
state of the Church before the Council of Nice, which is the
charge Renaudotius brings against this Liturgy.

§ 9. As to the other objection, that this Liturgy was never used
by any of the eastern churches; Renaudotius himself acknowledges,
nay proves, that there was no written Liturgy used in the church
till St. Basil's time, that is, fifty years after the council of Nice ;*
as I have also observed in a former tract.f But that for so long
time the eucharist was administered by a traditional form, derived
from the apostles. Yet he allows and grants that this Clementine
Liturgy was written before the council of Nice, that the learned
upon very sufficient reasons are agreed that it was so. Now
this can be reconciled no other way than this. The church, till
St. Basil's time, did not permit the use of any written Liturgy,
but the Eucharist was, till that time, administered by a traditional
form only. But some private person called Clement, or at least
one who thought proper to assume that name, being well versed
in the traditions of the church, took upon him to put these tradi
tions into writing, and, amongst the rest, the form of administering
the eucharist, called from thence the Clementine Liturgy. But
the church being at that time in a state of persecution, and care
ful to conceal these mysteries from the Heathen who might
profane them, would not allow any public transcripts of this
Liturgy, but continued to deliver the form of ministering the
eucharist by tradition only, as they had been accustomed to do
before this private person took upon him to put it into writing.
And this written Liturgy of Clement remained only in some few
private hands, nor was permitted to be made public. And there
fore, though this particular form, which we commonly call the
Clementine Liturgy, was not used in any church after all churches
came to use written Liturgies, yet its authority is not therefore
less than that of any other Liturgy ; but it is indeed of greater

* DC Liturg. Orient. Orig. & Author, p. 9.
f Necessary Use of Tradition, § 28.

150 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

authority than any other Liturgy, by reason of its antiquity, being
older than the council of Nice, as Renaudotius himself allows,
whereas there is no other Liturgy so ancient as that council, and
as it does not give us the form used in this or that particular
church after Liturgies were written, but the old traditional form
used in all churches before that form was committed to writing
in any one church. Therefore Mr. Johnson says, " That he is in
his own mind persuaded, that if we had the very words in which
St. Peter and St. Paul consecrated the eucharist, it would not
differ in substance from that which is contained in this most
ancient Liturgy."* And bishop Hickes says, " That the eucha-
ristical office, in the apostolical constitutions, is the standard and
test by which all others are to be tried. And by comparing those
with this, the innovations and additions in after times, be they
good or bad, will appear."t And indeed the Clementine Liturgy
by not being used in any church, has this advantage above all
others, that it has not received any of those corruptions, which
latter ages have introduced more or less into all other Liturgies :
and may therefore very well be a test by which all other Litur
gies ought to be tried. For though we cannot say, that all or any
of those Liturgies, which were used in the most ancient churches,
were directly framed from this ; or that the compilers of them,
who first put them into writing, had this Liturgy lying before
them, in order to make their own agreeable to it ; or that they
had so much as seen or read it ; yet it is certain, they all com
posed their Liturgies agreeably to that traditional form which
they had received from the apostles ; otherwise it is impossible
they could have been so agreeable to each other, and to the una
nimous testimony of the fathers, as we find them to be. And the
Clementine Liturgy is the best and fullest exemplar of that tra
ditional Liturgy we have now extant. Where all the other
Liturgies are agreeable to one another, they agree also with that ;
and where they differ from one another, they are different also
from that. Now, I conceive it is evident, that when all the
Liturgies agree with one another, they must agree with the tra
ditional form delivered to all churches by the apostles, For when
the several churches began to put their Liturgies into writing,

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part 2. p. 148.
f Christian Priesthood, 3rd edit. p. 141.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 151

they did not do it by the order of any general council, for then
they would have agreed upon one common stated form for all
churches, as they did upon one common creed in the four first
general councils. That is, they would have agreed in one com
mon form of words, as well as in sense. But whereas they agree
in sense only, but are all different in words, it is manifest that
there never was a Liturgy drawn up, as the Nicene creed was,
for the use of all churches, by one unanimous consent of any
general council. But the difference in words shews, that each
church composed a Liturgy for themselves. And the agreement
betwixt them in sense is a demonstrative evidence, that they had
originally one traditional form. For a traditional form, not first
delivered in writing, will always differ in words, when delivered
by several persons, however agreeable they are to each other in
sense. Thus the evangelists and St. Paul, who have given us an
account of the institution of the eucharist, having all received
that account by tradition, that is, not in writing from our Saviour,
differ from each other in words, but are perfectly agreeable in
sense. And St. Matthew and St. Luke, who had each of them
learned the Lord's prayer by such unwritten tradition from our
Saviour, have transmitted it to us in different words, though the
sense be the same. And if their agreement in sense, though they
differ in words, be an evidence that they delivered what they
have taught us concerning the institution of the eucharist and
the Lord's prayer from one and the same original tradition, we
must also in the same manner believe, that where all churches
have transmitted to us the same form of consecration agreeing in
sense, though different in words, they all received this form from
the same original tradition, which couldf.be no other than apos
tolical, since the Christian church never met together in any
general council to settle or agree upon this matter.

§ 10. I will therefore now shew that the Clementine Liturgy
is a very fair and good exemplar of the traditional form of admin
istering the eucharist, which the church received from the
apostles ; which traditional form, that is, a form agreeing in sense,
though not in words, was used by the whole church before the
council of Nice, and many years after, till the serveral churches
began to put their forms into writing. This I shall do, by con
sidering and examining the several parts of this Liturgy, and

152 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

shewing from testimonies of the Ante-Nicene fathers, that there is
nothing in this Liturgy but what was used in the celebration of the
eucharist before the council of Nice, during the three first cen
turies of Christianity ; that is, while the church continued an
unspotted Virgin, unpolluted with any corruptions. Whilst the
bishops and pastors had no secular views, nor sought to please
either Prince or people, or to make religion subservient to any
secular ends. Whilst the Charismata, or miraculous graces and
gifts of the Holy Spirit, continued in the church, and whilst they
durst provoke and openly challenge the Heathen, to see the power
which God had given them over the gods, or rather devils, which
the Heathen worshipped.

§ 11. This Liturgy begins with the deacon's requiring the
Catechumens, the hearers, the Infidels, and the Heretics, to
withdraw : that so none might remain to receive the eucharist,
but the faithful. Now, that all these were excluded from par
taking of the eucharist in the most early ages, is testified by
Justin Martyr, who says, " This food is called by us the eucharist,
which it is not lawful for any other to partake of, but such an
one as believes those things to be true which are taught amongst
us, and has been washed in the laver for remission of sins and
for regeneration, and lives according to the ordinances of Christ."*
Also all the passages I have 'already produced, to shew that the
Primitive Christians were careful to conceal these mysteries from
all but the initiated, are so many proofs that they took care to
exclude the Catechumens, and the others whom the deacon is
here said to require to withdraw. The other parts of the
Christian worship, such as reading the Holy Scriptures, singing
of psalms or hymns, and preaching the Word, were performed
publicly, and none were excluded from being present at them,
excepting when by reason of persecution they were forced to
assemble together in secret, and durst not perform any part of
Christian worship openly. This we may gather from the words
of St. Paul,f who supposes, that whilst the Christians are pray-

* 'H rpotyr) avrrj /caAemw trap jy/uv e'yXaptTi'a- //£ *5ej/i

>"l rVTn^{,ovn aA^/) eivai ra SeSiSay^va {>$' rjp&v, /cat sa'a/j.evy TO virep
a.fj.a.priGtv Kai *IQ avayivyaiv \xrpbv, /cat HTO>S frown us o Xpi^os irapiSoKtv. Just
Mart. Apol. I, cap. 86.

f 1 Cor. xiv. 24.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 153

ing or prophesying in the Church, one that believeth not, or one
that is unlearned, or uninstructed in religion, may come in
amongst them, and receive thereby the means of conversion.
Which is a sure evidence, that in the Apostles' days they did not
exclude any from those parts of Christian worship he is there
speaking of. It is also plain from the same St. Paul,* that he
would have none admitted to the eucharist, but such as were well
instructed, and knew how to discern the Lord's body there.
Therefore for the deacon to require the Catechumens and others
to withdraw when the bishop or priest was going to administer
the eucharist, is perfectly agreeable to Apostolical direction.
And that the Church acted in this manner for the three first
centuries, and longer, we may learn from the Fourth Council of
Carthage, celebrated in the year 398, where it is ordained, that
" the bishop shall hinder no one from entering into the Church,
and hearing the Word of God, whether he be an Heathen, an
Heretic, or a Jew, until the dismission of the Catechumens." f
This is a good evidence, that the Missa Catechumen or urn, or
the dismission of the Catechumens, that is, of such as were
still under instruction, and not yet baptized, was then a well
known custom, and of long practice. The book of Homilies
also, (which though a very modern authority, yet may perhaps be
of more weight with some persons, than all the Fathers and
Councils put together) gives its testimony to this practice of the
ancient Church's dismissing the Catechumens and others before
the ministration of the eucharist : saying, " Why cried the deacon
in the Primitive Church, if any be holy, let him draw near?
Why did they celebrate these mysteries, the quire-door being
shut? Why were the public penitents and learners in religion
commanded at this time to avoid ? " J

§ 12. Then follows the Rubric concerning the fly-flap and the
bishop's shining garment, of which I have already spoken ;
neither am I concerned whether it be thought an interpolation
put in by some body after the Council of Nice, or not ; though I

* 1 Cor. xi. 29.

f Episcopus nulluin prohibeat ingredi Ecclesiam & audire verbum Dei, sive
Gentileua, sive Hfereticum, five Judaeum usque ad Missam Catechumenorum.
Condi. Carthag. iv. cap. 84.

J The second part of the Sermon concerning the sacrament, towards the end.
X

154 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

conceive I have shewed that it cannot be proved to be so, and
that it is not disagreeable to the circumstances or state of the
Church during the three first centuries. Next to that is the
bishop's making the sign of the cross upon his forehead before
all the people. That this practice was agreeable to the custom
of the Church in the most early ages, that is, during the three
first hundred years after the birth of Christ, and before the
Council of Nice, we may learn from the testimony of Tertulliau,
who lived about the middle of those ages, within less than a
hundred years after the death of St. John the Apostle, and some
thing more than a hundred years before the Council of Nice. For
he, speaking of the customs of the Church derived from the
Apostles, (and I cannot but think his testimony very good in
such a case, since it could be no difficult matter to know whether
a general custom was a hundred years old or not) says, " At
every stepping forth, at every motion, at every coming in or
going out, at our putting on our clothes or our shoes, when we
wash, when we sit down to meat, when we light candles, when
we lie down, when we seat ourselves, or whatever we are about
to do, we first sign our forehead with the sign of the cross."*
The Scriptures say, " that Christ crucified was to the Jews a
stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness." t They could
not conceive how God could suffer such an ignominious death,
or believe that he who died upon the cross could be the Saviour
of the world. The Christians therefore, to shew that they not
only believed this, but also that they gloried in the belief of a
crucified Saviour, made the sign of the cross upon all occasions,
and not only Tertullian speaks of their doing this, but others of
the Primitive Fathers mention it also, teaching us that the devils
themselves were put to flight by this sign. Origen, who
flourished a little after Tertullian, or whoever else was the
author of the Sermon upon the Epiphany, published amongst his
works, says, speaking of Christ, " His cross is our victory, his
gibbet is our triumph ; let us with joy elevate this sign, let us
carry the banners of victory on our shoulders, let us bear the

* Ad omnem progression atque promotum, ad omnem aditum & exitura, ad
vestitum, & calceatum, ad lavacra, ad raensas, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia,
qusecunque nos conversatio exercet frontem crucis signaculo terimus. TertulL
de Coron.Milit.

f 1 Cor. i. 23.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 155

immortal laver on our foreheads. When the devils see it, they
will tremble. They who fear not the golden capitols, fear the
cross."* St. Athanasius, who lived at the time of the Council
of Nice, says, " Let him that would experience the truth of what
has been said, come at the very time the devils are practising
their illusions, and their prophets exercising their impostures, and
while the magical wonders are working, and let him use the sign
of the cross which is so laughed at by them, only mentioning the
name of Christ, and he shall see how the devils fly away, the
prophesying ceaseth, and all the magic and charms lose their
force." f Lactantius, who was a little older than the Council of
Nice, speaking of the cross, says, " Now, it is sufficient that I
shew the power of this sign, and how forcible it is. How terrible
this sign is to the devils, he must know, who sees how being
adjured through Christ, they fly from the bodies of those they
have possessed. For as he, whilst he conversed amongst men,
drove away all devils with his word, and restored the minds of
those men to their former senses, which had been disturbed and
made furious by these wicked possessions ; so now his followers
drive those same evil spirits out of men in the name of their
Master, and by the sign of his passion. Which is a thing not
difficult to be proved. For when they are sacrificing to their
gods, if any one stands amongst them having his forehead marked
with that sign, their sacrifices can by no means succeed,

Nor the consulted prophet answers give.

And this has been often a chief cause, upon which evil princes
have been induced to persecute righteousness. For when some
of our communion being servants have attended on their masters
as they were sacrificing ; they having made this sign on their
foreheads, have driven away their gods, so that they could not
foreshew what was to come in the entrails of the victims, which
when the soothsayers have discovered, they have, at the instiga-

* Illius crux tiostra victoria est: illius patibulum noster triuraphns. Gau-
dentes levemus hoc signum, in humeris nostris victoriarum vexilla portemus.
Immortale lavacrum portemus in frontibus nostris ; cum Da?mones viderint,
contremiscent. Origen. Homil. de Epiphania Domini.

f'H/c£r&> <$e o iretpav rcav Trpo\tx%'tv'rtav jBaXo/ievof Aa£eu/, KCU ITT' avrijs rys tyaVTaaias
Ttav 8ai(ji6v(i>v, /cat rrjsrcw ^uavreiaiv aird-Tys, Kai TCOV rrjs /tay etas S'au^tara'y, /cat xpriffdarSw
Ty<r»j/ietwT8 y^\op.kvairap ainols <raup5, TOV Xpi^bv ovopacras p.6vov, KO.I otyerat TTOJS
5t' aura Sat^oj/es fjitv tfwuyitffi, pai/Teia 5e irav^rai, nayeia 5e «cu fyapfjiaKeia. tcarapytirai-
Athanas. de Incarn. \rerb, p. 102,

156 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

tion of those devils for whom they cut up the victims, driven their
princes into a rage, complaining that profane persons were present
at their sacrifices; that they might destroy the temple of God,
and pollute themselves with a real sacrilege, which could not be
expiated but with the severest punishment of the persecutors."*
And that Lactantius had just reason to say this, we may be
satisfied from what he tells us in another place concerning the
beginning of the Dioclesian persecution, which happened in his
own time, when he tells us, " That whilst Dioclesian was in the
East, being, on account of his fear, a great enquirer into future
events, he sacrificed beasts, and sought for things to come in
their entrails. Then some servants which were there, who knew
the Lord, as they stood near him that offered the sacrifice, put
the immortal sign upon their foreheads, which being done, the
devils fled, and the sacrifices were disturbed. The soothsayers
trembled, and could not see the accustomed signs in the entrails ;
and as if they had not observed all the rites as they ought to do,
they began again sacrificing often. But the slain victims again
discovered nothing, till Tages, the master of the soothsayers,
whether suspecting or seeing any thing, said that the sacrifices
did not answer, because profane men were present at these rites.
Then the emperor raging with anger, commanded not only those
which were there present to offer sacrifice, but also all that were
in the palace ; and that if any refused, they should be scourged :
and, by letters to the commanders of the army, commanded, that

* Nunc satis est, hujus sign! potentiam, quantum valeat, exponere. Quanto
terror! sit daemonibus hoc signum, sciet, qui viderit, quatenus adjurati per
Christum, de corporibus, quas obsederint, fugiant. Nam sicut ipse, cum inter
homines ageret, universos daemones verbo fugabat, hominumque mentes emotas,
and malis incursibus furiatas, in sensus pristinos reponebat : ita nunc sectatores
ejus, eosdem spiritus inquinatos de hominibus, et nomine magistri sui et
signo passionis excludunt, cujus rei non difficilis est probatio. Nam cum Diis
suis immolant, si assistat aliquis signatam frontem gerens, sacra nullo modo
libant ;

Nee responsa potest consultus reddere vales.

Et ha?c sarpe causa prsecipua justitiam persequendi malis regibus luit, cum enim
quidam ministroruin nostrorum sacrificantibus dominis assisterent, imposito
frontibus signo, Deos illorum fugaverunt, ne jiossent in viscera hostiarum futura
depingere. Quod cum intelligerent Aruspices, instigantibus iisdem daeraonibus.
quibus prosecant ; conquerentes, profanos homines sacris interesse ; egerunt
principes suos in furorem, ut expugnarent Dei templum, seque vero sacrilegio
contaminarent, quod gravissimis persequentium poenis expiaretur. Lactant. lib.
iv.de verd sapient, c. 27.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 157

all the soldiers should be compelled to offer these wicked sacrifices,
and those that refused should be cashiered."* Thus began the
severest persecution that the Primitive Christians suffered under
the Heathen emperors. For from this beginning the emperors,
as Lactantius afterwards shews, proceeded to use the Christians
in all places in the most barbarous manner imaginable. Lactan
tius also further tells us, that the emperor Constantine f was
warned in a dream " that he should put the celestial sign of God
in his banners, and so proceed to battle." But Eusebius, who
was contemporary to the Council of Nice, and had the story from
Constantine himself, gives us a much more particular and large
account of this matter. He tells us, that Constantine going
against the tyrant Maxentius, (who had got possession of Rome
itself, and had defeated great armies sent against him by the
other emperors,) "Having well considered with himself that he
wanted some better assistance than his military forces, because
of the evil arts and magic impostures studiously followed by the
tyrant ; he sought for a God to be his assistant ; and accounted
his furniture of arms and military companies as secondary helps
only ; but persuaded himself that the assistance of a Deity was
invincible and inexpugnable. He began therefore to consider
with himself, what God he should take to be his assistant.
Which whilst he solicitously enquired into, these thoughts arose
in his mind : that of those many who had arrived at the empire
before him, they that had placed their hopes in a multitude of
gods, and had worshipped them with sacrifices and a multitude
of gifts, at first had been deluded by prophecies made to please
and flatter them, and by oracles that promised them all things

* Cum ageret in partibus orientis, ut erat pro tirnore scrutator rerum futurarum,
immolabat pecudes, et in jecoribus eorum ventura quserebat. Turn quidam
ministrorumscientesDominum, cum adsisterent immolanti, imposuerunt fronti-
bus suis immortale signum. Quo facto, fugatis daemonibus, sacra turbata sunt.
Trepidabant aruspices, nee solitas in extis notas videbant, et quasi non libassent
saBpius immolabant. Verum identidem rnactatse hostiae nihil ostendebant, donee
magister ille aruspicum Tages, seu suspicione seu visu, ait idcirco non respon-
dere sacra, quod rebus divinis profani homines interessent. Tune ira furens,
sacrificare non eos tantum qui sacris ministrabant, sed universos qui erant in
palatio jussit, et in eos si detractassent verberibus animadverti • datisque ad
praepositos literis, etiam milites cogi ad nefanda sacrificia prsecepit, ut qui non
paruissent, militia solverentur. Lactant. de mart, persecut. cap. 10.

f Commonitus est in quiete Constantinus, ut coeleste signum Dei notaret in
scutis, atque ita praelium committeret. Lactant. de mort. persecut. cap. 44.

158 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

prosperous and fortunate ; but bad at length found an unlucky and
disastrous end : nor was any of tbeir gods ready at band to free
them from tbat destruction inflicted on them by heaven : that his
Father was the only person, who had taken a contrary course,
and had condemned their error ; who throughout his whole life
had heretofore worshipped one supreme God, whom he had found
to be the Saviour and keeper of his empire, and the bestower of
all good. When he had weighed these things with himself, and
well considered, that those who had put their confidence in a
multitude of gods, had likewise fallen into a multitude of destruc
tions ; insomuch that not the least footstep either of their stock,
issue, kindred, name, or memory, was left remaining amongst
men ; but on the contrary, that the God of his father had given
many, and those effectual demonstrations of his own power to
his father ; — and when he had farther considered, that those who
before had led out their forces against the tyrant, because they
had made their expedition with a multitude of gods, had under
gone a disgraceful end : for the one of them had retreated igno-
miniously with all his forces, without effecting any thing ; and
the other was killed in the midst of his army, and so became a
cheap and easy sacrifice of death : — having, I say, mustered up
all these thoughts within his own mind, and considered them
well, he judged it the highest pitch of madness to trifle about the
worship of those gods which are nothing, and after so clear a
conviction still to run on in a blind error : but his sentiment was,
that he ought only to worship the God of his father. He called
upon this God therefore in his prayers, intreating and beseeching
him, that whoever he was, he would manifest himself to him, and
reach -out his right hand to his assistance in his present affairs.
Whilst the emperor was putting up these prayers and supplica
tions, a most wonderful sign, sent from God, appeared ; which
had any other person given a relation of, would not easily have
been received as true. But since the victorious emperor told it
to us who wrote this history, a long while after, at such time as
we were vouchsafed his knowledge and converse, and confirmed
his relation with an oath ; who will hereafter doubt of giving
credit to this narrative ? Especially when the succeeding times
gave an evident attestation to this relation. About the meridian
hours of the sun, when the day was declining, he said he saw
with his own eyes the trophy of the cross in the heavens, placed

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 159

over the sun, made up of light, and an inscription annexed to it,
containing these words, Bg tyt'0 Ctmtjttet, And, that at the
sight of it an amazement seized both him and all his military
forces, which followed him as he was making his journey some
whither, and were spectators of the miracle. Moreover, when he
began to doubt with himself, as he said, what the meaning of
this apparition should be; whilst he was revolving it in hin
mind, and very intent in his thoughts upon it, on a sudden night
came on. At which time, as he said, the Christ of God appeared
to him when asleep, with that sign which had been shewed him
in the heavens, and ordered him to get a standard made in
imitation of that he had seen in the heaven, which he should use
as a salutary defence in his engagements with his enemies. As
soon as it was day, he arose and declared the whole secret to his
friends. Then he called together the workers in gold and
precious stones, in the midst of whom he himself sat, and by
discourse gave them a description of that standard, and ordered
them to express it likewise in gold and precious stones. Which
standard we ourselves also have seen."* Then he goes on to
describe the standard more particularly, and to let us know that
Constantine upon this vision sent for the Christian bishops, to
learn from them the meaning of it. " They told him that the
person who appeared to him in his sleep was God, the only
begotten Son of the one and only God : but that the sign which
had been shewn him was the symbol of immortality, and the
trophy of that victory, which he, when heretofore conversant on
the earth, had obtained over death. They likewise taught him
the causes of his advent, and expounded to him the accurate
account of his incarnation. He gave them attention, being
desirous of information in those matters. But he was taken
up with an admiration of that appearance of God, which had
been exhibited to his sight. And when he had compared that
celestial vision with the interpretation given of it by the discourses
of the bishops, he was strengthened in mind, and became fully
persuaded, that the knowledge of these matters was delivered to
him by the ministration of God himself. From thenceforward,
he resolved to apply himself to the reading of the divine books ;
and having made those prelates of God his assessors, was of

* Euseh. in Vit. Constant, cap. 27—30.

160 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

opinion, that that God whom he had seen was to be worshipped
with all imaginable observancy. After this being fortified with
good hopes placed in him, he undertook to extinguish the fire of
tyrannic fury."*

Then he proceeds to give an account of the wickedness and
tyranny of Maxentius, and how Constantine with a much smaller
army defeated his numerous forces, and then made a triumphant
entry into Rome, and was received with loud acclamations of all
the people, who styled him a Redeemer, a Saviour, and Benefac
tor, with voices that could not be silenced. And having thus
ended the war with the destruction of the tyrant, " he made known
to all men the salutary standard, by erecting this great trophj
against his enemies in the midst of the imperial city, and plainly
engraving this salutary standard, which is the preservative of the
Roman government, and of the empire of the whole world, with
indelible characters. He issued out therefore an immediate order,
that an high spear, made in the form of a cross, should be placed
under the stand of his own likeness expressed in a statue, set up
in the most public and frequented place of the city Rome, and
that this very inscription in the Latin tongue should be cut upon

it. Bg tf)ts salutarg sign, tofttci) is tyt eogmjanee of true
Faionr, $ i)abe fceitbereti ant» freeB gout eitg from tfje slatoisij
of ttye tyrant : &n& Jabe set at lifrertg tje senate anti
of t&ome, anU restored tijem to tfjetr anetent spientfor

Btgnttg."* After this he tells us how Constantine used
this standard of the cross in all his wars, and observes that
" wherever that standard appeared, happened a rout of the ene
mies, and a pursuit was made by those who had gotten the better.
Which when the emperor perceived, in whatever place he saw-
one part of his army pressed hard, thither he ordered the salutary
trophy to be carried, as a most efficacious help to procure victory.
After the doing whereof, a victory followed immediately ; in regard
strength and courage were by a divine act of Providence infused
in those who fought. And he said that a dismal noise and sudden
disturbance having one time put the army into a consternation
during the very heat of an engagement, he who bore the standard
on his shoulders, was in an agony by reason of his fear ; where
upon he delivered the standard to another, to the end he might

* Euseb. in Vit. Constant, cap. 32. f Id. cap. 40.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 101

make his escape out of the fight. That other person had no
sooner taken it, than he who slipt away, being got without the
protection of the standard, was struck into the belly by a dart
cast at him, and was deprived of life. Thus this man underwent
the punishment of his cowardice and infidelity, and lay dead
upon the spot. But the salutary trophy became the preservative
of his life who bore it. Insomuch that though darts were fre
quently cast at him who bore the standard, yet he was preserved
unhurt : but the spear of the salutary trophy received the darts.
And this was a thing which far surpassed every miracle, to see
in what manner the enemies' darts fell upon the smallest circum
ference of the spear, whereon they were fixed and stuck fast ; but
the standard-bearer was preserved from death : yea none of those
employed in that office, did ever receive a wound. This is not
our relation, but the emperor's own, who amongst other matters
declared this also to us."* Thus we have not only a full testi
mony, that the Christians of the first and purest ages used the
sign of the cross, bnt we have also divers instances of God's
vouchsafing to perform wondrous works by the means of that
sign, as I have shewed by most evident testimonies of such as
lived in those ages. And that glorious sign of the cross, which
appeared in the heavens, and was seen in the broad day by the
emperor, and his whole army, could be set there by no oilier than
God himself. And the appearance of Christ in a dream to Cou-
stantine, commanding him to carry that sign in his banners, and
the many victories which that emperor obtained by that means,
are so many testimonies of God's approbation of the use of that
sign. And Constantino's sending for the Christian bishops
immediately after this glorious vision, and desiring to be instructed
by them in the meaning of this apparition, is an evidence, that
even the Heathen knew (for Constantine was till that time an
Heathen) that the Christians used that sign. So that we have
the witness both of Heathen and Christians to assure us, that the
sign of the cross was in use amongst Christians before the Coun
cil of Nice, that is, in the best and purest ages of the Church.
However, I cannot forbear to produce one testimony more, and
that is St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who though younger than any of
those before mentioned, yet may be reckoned contemporary to the

* Euseb. in Vit. Constant, lib. 2, cap. 7. 9.

162 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Council of Nice, being made bishop of Jerusalem not above five-
and-twenty years after the meeting of that Council ; so that we
may reasonably suppose him near twenty years of age or more, at
the time when that Council was assembled. He, in his Cate
chetical Lectures, gives this instruction to the Catechumens-
" Therefore let us not be ashamed of the cross of Christ ; but if
any one else keeps it secret, do you openly sign your forehead
therewith, that the devils seeing that royal sign, may trembling
fly away. But make that sign whether you are eating or drinking,
sitting or lying, or rising up, speaking or walking, and in a word,
in every thing you do."* There are other passages in the same
Father to the same purpose, shewing that upon all occasions the
Primitive Christians were wont to sign their foreheads with the
sign of the cross. And if upon all occasions, there is no question
to be made, but that the bishop also did so, before he offered the
Christian sacrifice, as this Rubric of the Clementine Liturgy now
under consideration teaches us that he did. Nay, so notorious
was the use of the cross amongst the ancient Christians, that the
Nonconformists, the greatest enemies to the use of that sign in
the last age, could not deny the matter of fact, as Bishop Morton
informs us, in his particular defence of the ceremony of the cross,
from their own words printed in the Lincolnshire Abridgment
1605., which are, " What shall we say, but that the cross hath
been as superstitiously abused by the fathers, as by the rankest
papists, saving that papists have ranked it with divine worship,
and so bestowed more honour upon it than ever the fathers did
afford it ?" To which that learned bishop makes this answer :
" If I should note any man to be as rank a traitor as ever was
rebel, 8&bl tfjat he does acknowledge his due obedience to the
king, would not every one think that 1 thereby bewrayed both
malignancy and folly ? And how does this differ, 1 pray you,
from your censure of the fathers ?"f The fathers indeed used
this sign upon all occasions ; but they never worshipped it. For

* M>) foivvv i-xai(rxvt'0a)/ji.€i> r^ ^avpip TX Xpi<?&, oAAa KCLV a\\os airoKpinrrg, av
<)>avepu>s iiri yueTwiry fftypayife, 'iva ol Sai/j.oves TO fft]^iov idovres TO
lJ.a.K.pb.v (pvytixri Tpk/jLOVTfs, iroiei 5e T«TO TO a"r)/J.€iov, i^Sriwv KO.L irivwv,
KoiTa£6fj,€vos, elaviTa/^evos, AaXwi/, TrepiTraruv, ava£air\£)S fv iravrl Trpay/naTt. Cyril.
Catech. iv. § 10. de Ascensione.

•f- Defence of the innocence of the three Ceremonies of the Church of England
page 237, 238

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 163

Minutius Felix, who lived a little after Tertullian, in the begin
ning of the third century, tells us, that when the Heathens
objected to the Christians, that they worshipped a cross, * the
Christian answers positively, "We neither worship crosses, nor
desire them." But Peter Martyr, one of the reformers of our
reformation, has a clever way of abusing the fathers for the use
of this sign. He could not deny, but the devils fled at the sight
of it ; the testimonies were so many, and so notorious, that he
was ashamed to deny so plain a matter of fact. Therefore he
makes it to be a trick and delusion of the devil, to deceive the
Primitive Christians, and to make them believe that he was afraid
of this sign, though really he was not. " The devil," says he,
" feigns to fly at the sign of the cross, forasmuch as by that iiction
he may more and more insinuate himself into us. The strength
and power of the cross is not placed in the sign, but in a true
and solid faith in him that was crucified."f As if he that made
the sign of the cross did not thereby give a testimony of his faith
in him that was crucified. The devil cannot search the hearts J
he is not God, to know our thoughts, otherwise than as they are
testified by some outward act. And therefore, except we declare
our faith by some outward act, the devil cannot tell that we have
faith ; and the sign of the cross, made with reverence and devo
tion, is a sure testimony of our believing in him who was crucified.
No other sign can give so full a testimony of this in so short a
time. Therefore, if there be any power in a true and solid faith
in him that was crucified, as Peter Martyr asserts, and I know
none that denies, I know no way of exerting that power, and
shewing that faith more fully and speedily than to make the sign
of the cross. For that sign not only testifies our belief in Christ,
but in an especial manner shews our belief in Christ crucified.
And therefore, the devils may very well be afraid of that sign,
since it was particularly by his cross that Christ destroyed the
power of the devil : for it was by that, as St. Paul tells us, that
" he spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them
openly, triumphing over them in it."J Therefore, as St. Cyril

* Cruces nee colimus, nee optanms. Minutius Felix, Octav,
f Diabolus conspecto signo crucis fingit se fugere, cum tamen ea fietione sese
magis ac magis nobis insinuet. Vis & potestas crucis non sita est in signo, sed
in vera solidaque fide crucifi\i. Peter Martyr loc. com. class. 2. cap. 5., § 20.
page 222. J Col. ii. 15.

164 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

observes, " When the devils see the cross, they remember who
was crucified. They fear him that broke the serpent's head."*
And how the devil should only seem to fly at the sign of the cross,
is very unaccountable. For it is certain, he did himself very
great disservice thereby. This flight of the devils at the sign of
the cross was a great means of ruining the Heathen religion, and
of destroying the kingdom of darkness, and the power of the devil.
It convinced the Heathens of the power of him that was crucified,
and brought them over to the Christian Faith. And by this
means the cross of Christ, which otherwise had been a mighty
obstacle to the conversion of the Gentiles, became an instrument
to bring them into the Church of Christ, and at last even the
emperor himself, and with him the empire, was converted by it-
Therefore, to say that the devil only feigned or pretended to fly
away at the sign of the cross, in order to draw men into a snare
by that means, when it is so apparent that his flying away at that
sign was one great means of the destruction of his kingdom,
seems to favour the obstinacy of the Pharisees, who when they
saw our Saviour cast out devils, being not able to deny the fact,
charged him with doing it through Beelzebub, the prince of
the devils.t And as our Saviour confuted this malicious objection
of the Pharisees, by letting them know that the devil would not
do what tended only to destroy his own kingdom, so may we
answer this objection of Peter Martyr. For if the sign of the
cross was not really terrible to the devil, he would never fly from
it : because his flying from that sign, tended to destroy his king
dom, as it gave men just cause to believe that he was afraid of
him that died upon the cross, and brought over men from the
worship of him to the worship of Christ who was crucified. How
ever, he goes on and says, " I will not deny but some miracles
were sometimes wrought by the sign of the cross. But I hare
already given a reason for it, which I need not repeat : I shall
only add, that the devil feeds and delights himself exceedingly
with human errors.";], His reason, which he will not repeat, is

*"Oraf yap iScotri rov ^avpov, virofj.ifivf]<TKoi'rai TS e^avpu/J.tVH. 4>o/3ovj/rat rov
(rvvTp'nrrovTa TO.S we^aAas TS Spdnovros. Cyril. Cateches. xiii. § 18.

f Mark iii. 22

+ Non inficior qu^etlam miracula interdum consignatione crucis edita fuisse,
sed ejus rei causam jam retuli, quae repetenda minime videtur. Id tantum
referam, diabolum pasci & delectarc mirum in rnodum erroribus humanis. Peter
Martyr loc, com. class, it. cap. v. § 20. page 222.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 165

thai which I have already answered. As to what he adds con
cerning the devil's pleasing himself with human errors, I see not
what error there could be in this case. Miracles were wrought
at the use of this sign ; Peter Martyr owns it. What error then
was it for the Christians to believe it ? Was it an error for them
to believe a fact which they saw with their eyes, and which he
himself acknowledges to be true ? Or was it an error in them to
use that sign, the use of which God was frequently pleased to
honour with a miracle ? Had it been unlawful to use it, which
is the thing he contends for, God would never have honoured it
in that manner. The argument runs much stronger the other
way. The Primitive Christians frequently signed their foreheads
with the cross, as a testimony of their faith in him that was cru
cified. Peter Martyr himself tells us from St. Augustine, that
this was their reason for making this sign on their foreheads,
" That they might testify that they were Christians, and were not
ashamed of the cross of Christ."* Now God so far approved
their thus using this sign, that he caused the devils to tremble
and fly at the sight of it, and sometimes wrought other miracles
when it was used. Since God therefore has given such testimo
nies of his approbation of the use of the sign of the cross, it is
certainly not only lawful, but very fit and proper to use that sign
as the Primitive Christians did, whose practice in this matter
received such evident testimonies of the divine approbation. And
as the use of the sign of the cross was of primitive antiquity, so
we also find it to have been an universal practice, and particularly
to have been used in the communion service, there being no
Liturgy but what gives testimony to the use of this sign in some
parts of the office once or oftener. But so many crosses as are
used in the Roman missal are to be met with in no other Liturgy
whatsoever ; such a number of them is certainly an innovation,
and renders the service theatrical ; but one or two we always find
in the most ancient Liturgies. So much being thought proper on
this solemn occasion to testify that we are not ashamed of the
cross of Christ, and that the solemn service we are then about is
performed in honour of a crucified Saviour. And therefore as the

* Quod tcstarentur se Christianos, quasi eos crucis Christ! niinime puderet.
Atque hoc ex Augustino de verbis Apostoli Scrmone viii. colligo. Peter Martyr
loct com. class. 2. cap. 5. § 20. page 222.

166 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Church of England has thought fit to retain this ceremony in the
ministration of one of her sacraments, I see not why she should
lay it aside in the ministration of the other. And we may say of
it, as the Church of England herself does of the cross in baptism,
that " this use of the sign of the cross in the ministration of .the
holy eucharist was held by the Primitive Church, as well by the
Greeks as the Latins, with one consent and great applause. At
which time, if any had opposed themselves against it, they would
certainly have been censured as enemies of the name of the cross,
and consequently of Christ's merits, the sign whereof they could
no better endure. This continual and general use of the sign of
the cross, is evident from many testimonies of the ancient
fathers."* We may therefore conclude that the use of the sign
of the cross in the communion office of the Church of England
was laid aside only to please Peter Martyr, (the great enemy of
this sign, as I have shewed) and his friends, who forced the
bishops of the Church of England to agree to an alteration of the
first Liturgy of king Edward, by making such an interest at court,
as to induce the king to threaten to do it without them, as we
learn from a letter of Peter Martyr himself, which he wrote to his
friend Martin Bucer, another foreign Presbyterian, who came over
hither with Martyr, to help to spoil our reformation, where he says,
" This does not a little cheer my spirits, which Sir John Cheke
has informed me ; If they, (that is the bishops) says he, do not
take care that those things be altered which should be altered,
the king will do it himself ; and when it comes before the parlia
ment, he will interpose his own regal authority ."f This letter is
dated at Lambeth, January 10. 1551. And accordingly in the
same year the common prayer was altered, and those things
changed which Martyr and his friend Bucer desired. J And the
Liturgy so altered was confirmed by the parliament in the begin
ning of the year following. And there is no doubt to be made,
but the use of the sign of the cross in the ministration of the

* Can. xxx. 1603.

f Hoc non me parum recreat, quod mihi D. Checus indicavit ; si noluerint
ipsi, ait, efficere, ut quse mutanda sint mutentur, Rex per seipsura id faciet ; &
cum ad Parliamentum ventum fuerit, ipse suae Majestatis authoritatem inter-
ponet. Peter Martyr to Bucer, as published by Strype in his Appendix to the
Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, page 154, 15o.

+ Burnet's History of Reform, page 147, 148. 161. 170. fourth edition.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 1 67

eucharist was laid aside to please Peter Martyr, who, as I have
shewed, was so great an enemy to it. For it is certain, the
Church of England had no dislike to the use of that sign, having
justified the use of it in one sacrament, and declared it to be free
both from popery and superstition. For in the conference at
Hampton Court in the very beginning of the reign of king James
the first, when Mr. Knewstubs the Puritan, objected against the
cross in baptism. "And here his majesty desired to be informed
concerning the antiquity of the use of the cross. Dr. Reynolds
(one of the Puritans) confessed, this custom would reach to the
Apostles' times ; but the difficulty was to prove it so anciently
used in baptism : this scruple was thrown in by the Dean of
Sarum, Dr. Bridges : but the matter was sufficiently cleared by
Dr. Andrews, Dean of Westminster, who proved from Tertullian,
Origen, St. Cyprian, and others, that the cross was used in
immortali lavacro. And here the bishop of Winchester, Dr.
Bilson, argued, that the cross was used in baptism in the reign
of Constantino the great ' And is it come to that pass,' says the
king, 'that we must charge Constantine with superstition and
popery ? If it was used so early, I see no reason why it may not
be continued-' "* This determination of king James the first the
Church of England soon after declared to be her own in the
convocation held immediately after, when she declared in her
canon concerning the lawful use of the cross in baptism, " that
she therein followed the royal steps of her most worthy king
taken in the conference at Hampton Court, because he therein
followed the rules and the practice of the Primitive Church."t
Now the step which that king took at that conference, was to
maintain (as I have shewed) that the Church which was sup
ported and protected by Constantine, was free from superstition
and popery : consequently there was no reason why what was
used in his time, should not be continued. As therefore the
fathers before and in the time of Constantine testify, that the sign
of the cross was then used upon all occasions, and the Clementine
Liturgy particularly testifies that it was used at the ministration
of the eucharist ; therefore, according to the sentiments of king
James the first, and of the Church of England, who in convoca
tion declared herself of his opinion in this matter, there is no

* Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. page 680.
f Canon xxx. 1603.

168 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

reason why this rite should not be continued in the ministration
of the eucharist. Whether a discontinuance of the use of this
rite at the eucharist for about 150 years in one particular Church
against the practice of the universal Church for 1500 years, be
sufficient to cancel our obligation to the use of this rite, especially
when that Church has no where condemned it, may, 1 think,
deserve a serious consideration.

§ 13. Then the Bishop begins the office with these suffrages.
The grace of Almighty God, and the love of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the communication of the Holy Spirit, be with
you all. Answer. And with thy Spirit. Bishop. Lift up your
hearts. Answer. We lift them up unto the Lord. Bishop. Let
us give thanks unto the Lord. Answer. It is meet and right so
to do. The first of these suffrages is the same in sense, though
not exactly in words, with the salutation with which St. Paul
concludes his second epistle to the Corinthians.* And the answer
is agreeable to the salutation with which St. Paul greets Timothy .t
In other Liturgies, for the most part this suffrage is put in the
words of the English Liturgy, " The Lord be with you ;" which
is to the same effect, and is a very ancient form of salutation
mentioned in the Old Testament as well as the New. £ The
antiquity therefore of this suffrage, since it is expressly taken
from the holy scripture, cannot be disputed. That the following-
suffrage was also older than the Council of Nice, is testified by
St. Cyprian, who tells us that the priest does, by a preface fore
going, prepare the minds of the brethren before the prayer begins,
saying, Lift up your hearts. || That when the people answer, We
lift them up unto the Lord, they may be admonished that they
ought to have their thoughts wholly fixed upon the Lord. The
other suffrage is also very agreeable to the scriptures, which
require us to give thanks in every thing. § And certainly nothing
can be more proper than that the priest should exhort the people
to give thanks on this solemn occasion, when he is going to offer
the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and that they should

* 2 Cor. xiii. 14. f 2 Tim. iv. 2'2. + Ruth. ii. 4. and 2 Thess. iii. 16.

|| Sacerdos ante orationem praefatione praemissa, parat fratrum mentes dicendo
Sursum corda: ut dum respondet plehs, Habemus ad Dominum ; adtnoneatur
nihil aliud se quam Dominum cogitare debere. Cyprian de oratione Dominic.

6 1 Thess. v. 18.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. ltf<)

acknowledge it to be meet and right so to do. And therefore,
though I do not remember to have met with any testimony of an
Ante-Nicene father concerning this particular suffrage, yet, there
is no reason to think it an interpolation in the Clementine Liturgy
since it is so agreeable to the scriptures, so well adapted to the
nature of that office it belongs to, and is also in all other Liturgies,
and, as well as the foregoing suffrages, is retained in the coinmu-
nion office of the Church of England.

§ 14. Immediately, therefore, the bishop proceeds to the eu-
charistic prayer, or prayer of thanksgiving to God, with an
enumeration of his wonderful works recorded in holy scripture
That such a prayer was used at the celebration of the holy eucha-
rist in the earliest ages of the Church, and even in the Apostles'
days, is testified by Justin Martyr in his apology, written within
fifty years after the death of St. John, or the time when the
apostolical age ended : who in that part of his apology which is
prefixed to this Dissertation, says, « Then bread and a cup of
wine and water is brought to him that presides over the brethren ;
which he having received, gives praise and glory to the Father of
all things, through the name of his Son and Holy Spirit, and
makes a very long thanksgiving to him for having vouchsafed to
bestow on us such great blessings. Who having finished the
prayers and thanksgiving, all the people cry out, saying, Amen "*
Upon which passage of this father, Dr. Grabe makes the following
note. "As to what concerns our Saviour's institution of the
sacrament of his body, even the gospels testify that he took bread
and a cup, giving thanks Mat. xxvi. 26. 27. Mark xiv 03
Luke xxii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 24. Blessing them. Mark xiv' 22
St. Paul also mentions the cup of blessing which we bless'
1 Cor. x. 16. And chap. xiv. ver. 16. &c. Else when thou shall
bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the
unlearned, say Amen, at thy giving of thanks, seeing he under
standeth not what thou sayest ? For thou verily givest thanks
well, but the other is not edified. Therefore that very thiflg

K« ovros
KCU rs ™ua™ Tfi

,

> ^ ^

,, A/,,},. Just. Mart. Apol 1. § 8-5. LlU Grab

170 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

which Christ and his apostles did in the celebration of the tre
mendous mystery, that also their successors the bishops of the
Churches duly observed, as Justin expressly testifies in this
period agreeable to the Apostolic words, with regard to the priest
celebrating the eucharist or thanksgiving, and the people's an
swering Amen. And he says this was done in a very long prayer ;
as Proclus in his tract concerning the tradition of the divine
Liturgy, tells us with regard to the apostles themselves. Receiv
ing the mystical sacrifice of the Lord's body, they celebrated it
with a song of great length. (Do not wonder at the word song ;
for that it was not at all opposite to Apostolic practice, the four
teenth chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
sufficiently teaches, to mention no more.) Likewise John Chrys-
ostom, in his twenty-fourth Homily on the first epistle to the
Corinthians, where he comments upon the cup of blessing, intro
duces the Apostle speaking in this manner. It is no light matter
that is here spoken of: for when I recite the sacramental bene
diction, I unfold the whole treasure of God's beneficence, and
commemorate those great gifts. And that form of thanksgiving
which is in the Apostolical Constitutions, book 8. chapter 12.,
agrees exactly to this character which Chrysostom gives of the
Apostolical Eulogy, and Justin of the thanksgiving of the Primi
tive Christians, both in this place, and also before at page 24.
From whence also Justin seems to have borrowed that phrase
(which I take notice of hereafter, page 131., note 3.) 0*777 ^va^
with all might, or as well as one is able. Afterward, as the devo
tion of Christians grew cold, this long doxology was contracted,
yet so that the two greatest blessings of God, that is, the creation
and redemption by Christ, together with the institution of th
commemorative sacrament, were always set forth, and thanks
given to God for these things according to the example and com
mand of our Saviour himself, who in his last supper no doubt
imitated the blessings used by the Jews. And their solemn
forms of blessing God, in the participation of bread and wine,
are recited by Fagius, in his comment on Deut. viii., as follows.
Blessed be tliou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who Greatest
the fruit of the vine. Also, Blessed art thou, O Lord our God,
who bringest broad out of the earth. Moreover, We give thanks
to thee, O Lord our God, for that thou madest our fathers to
inherit a desirable, good and spacious land ; and for that thou,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 171

O Lord our God, broughtest us out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemedst us from the house of bondage &c., For all things, I
say, we give thanks to thee, &c. In like manner therefore our
Saviour blessed God the Father, not only for the creation and
redemption of the Jewish nation, but for that of all mankind by
his death, and commanded his Apostles, that they should do the
same in remembrance of him, and chiefly, should set forth his
death, according to Luke xxii. 19., and 1 Cor. xi. 25. &c. Hence
all the ancient Liturgies, and the English Liturgy, set forth in
the first (it should be the second) "year of king Edward VI. and
the Scotch Liturgy, after reciting the words of institution, which
end with this clause, Do this in remembrance of me : as it were
to perform a ready obedience to this command, almost immedi
ately subjoin ; We thy humble servants do celebrate, and make
here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, the
memorial which thy Son hath willed us to make, having in re
membrance his blessed passion &c. I shall add but one thing
more, which is, that all Catholics of all times have concluded the
sacramental Eulogy with the seraphic words, holy, holy, &c.
For it seemed but fit that they who eat the bread of angels should
also sing their hymn."* And the reader may satisfy himself from

av— eVt TTO\V iroietraL. De servatore nostro Sacrainentum corporis
sui instituente, ispa S. Evangelia perhibent, guod acceperit panem et poculum.
tvxap^rjffac,, gratias agens, Matt. xxvi. 26, 27. Marc. xiv. 23. Luc. xxii. 19 ;
1 Corinth, xi. 24. e'vAoy/ja-ac, benedicens. Marc. xiv. 22. St. Paulus quoq';
I Corinth, x. 16. memorat TO TTOT^OJ/ T^Q iv\oyias o IvXoyv^v. Poculum benc-
dictionis quod benedicimus. Et cap. xiv. ver. 16. Seqq. fai &„ tv\oyf,<ms rv
wrivfMri o &y«r\i}pw rov rfaov r« ftwirs, TTWS e>i rb a^v eVi rfj <rs eWoi=r/?,
*M*)} rb \iyeis &K 6ioe- tri, pkr ybp KaXas tvXapi*€ls, b\\' b Zrtpos &K 6iKo9o^iTcu.
1 ipsum igitur, quod Christus ac Apostoli in celebratione tremendi Mysterii
fecere, et Successores eorum Episcopi Ecclesiarum debits observarunt, uti
Justinus in hac periodo Apostolicis verbis ratione Sacerdotis celebrantis, et
popuh respondentis Amen, prorsus eonsona, disert^ testatur. Et qnidein tVi
*o\v, prolixiori oratione id factum dicit; quemadmodum de ipsis St. Apostolia
ait Proclus in Tractatu de Traditione divinae Liturgiae : rfc r» §«rrom«
tr^aros IMZMYIV lepapylav rrapafjivSiov e'upo/c^res, Si^oSiKtHnaret avrfr ij8ov. Mys-
ticum Dominici corporis Sacrijicium consolations plenum deprehendentes, pro-
lixo cantu illud celebrarunt. (Noli mirari cantum : neque enim omnino ab
Apostolico ritu alienum fuisse, vel sola Pauli Epistola 1. ad Corinth, cap xiv
docet, alia ut taceam.) Similiter Joannes Chrysostomus Homil. 24. in 1. Epist-
ad Corinthios. ubi in poculum benedictionis commentatur, Apostolum introducit
ita loquentem : O'v fwtpbv TO eipwkvov, tuXoyiav yap orav tnrw, irdvra. bvairToaffu
TOV r-ns *l*py«,tas ru 068 ^ffavpbv, KM rw ueyd\w fahvuv toafutwflffw Sape&v
Non parvum est quod dicitur. Nam quando benedictimem (Sacramentalcm)

172 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the Liturgies here published, that in all of them, except the
Roman, there is an eucharistical prayer immediately preceding
the words of institution, wherein thanks are given for the creation
and redemption of mankind ; though, as Dr. Grabe has observed,
they are much shorter than that which is in the Apostolical
Constitutions, called here the Clementine Liturgy. However it
is evident from Justin Martyr, that the Primitive Christians in
the Apostles' days, and down to his time, that is about fifty years
after, used a very long prayer on this occasion, which is a very
good evidence in favour of this Clementine Liturgy, to satisfy
that it is the best exemplar of the Apostolical traditional form of
administering the eucharist, no other Liturgy having a prayer of
more than ordinary length on this occasion. However all have a
prayer to the same effect, differing from this in length only, ex
cepting the Roman Missal, which has only the preface. It is right.

dico, omnem benejicentice Dei tliesaurum cxplico, et magna ilia dona in memo
riam revoco. Atq; huic, quern Chrysostomus Apostolicse Eulogise, et Justinus
primasvorum Christianorum Eucharistias, tarn hoc loco qnam supra, p. 24.
adscribit, character! optime congruit ista Eucharistise formula, quse in constitu-
tionibus Apostolicis lib. viii. cap. 12. extat : ex qua Justinus et istam phrasin,
00-77 tivvctfjiis, petiisse videtur, de qua vide sequenti, p. 131. not. 3 postea
refrigescente Christianorum devotione, prolixior ista doxologia aliquantum
contracta est, ita tamen ut duo pnecipua Dei beneficia, Creationis nempe atquc
Redemptionis per Christum, una cum memorialis hujus Sacramenti institu-
tione, semper fuerint deprasdicata, ac gratiae pro his Deo acta?, exemplo et jussn
ipsius Salvatoris, qui in ultima coena proculdubio Judasorum benedictiones est
imitatus. Atqui horum solemnes in panis et vini participatione Deum benedi
cendi formulae recitantur a Fagio in Comment, ad Deuteronom, viii. Benedictits-
sis tu Domine Dens noster, Rex Mundi, qui erects fructurn vitis, ; item : Benedictits
sis Domine Deus, qui educis panem de terra, Porro, Gratias ngimus tibi, Domine
Deus master, eo quod hereditare fecisti patrcs nostros terram desiderabilem,
bonam et spatiosatn, et pro eo, quod eduxisti nos, Domine Deus noster, de
terra Eqypti, ct redemisti nos de domo servitutis, &c. Pro omnibus, inquam,
tibi yratias agimus, &c. Pavi itaq. ; more Servator Deo patri pro creatione et
redemptione, non soliam Judaica? gentis, sed et totius humani generis per suam
ipsius mortem benedixit, jussitq ; Apostolos, ut idemfacerent in stii commemora-
tionem, ac praecipue mortem ejus annunciarent, juxta Luc. xxii. 19. et I Cor
inth. xi. 25 et seq. Hinc egregie omnes antiquaa Liturgiaa, nee non Anglicana
I. Edvardi VI. anno edita, et Scotica, post recitata verba Institutionis, horum
clausulas, Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, promptam quasi obedientiam
praastituraa, mox ita fere subjungunt : Memores itaq ; Domine, nos Servi tui, Jesu
Christijilii tui, tarn Passionis ejus $c. Id unicum solum addo, omnes omnium
temporum catholicos Eulogiam Sacramentalem conclusisse Seraphicis verbis :
Sanctus, Sanctus, %c. ^Equum enim videbatur, ut qui panem Angelorum
comederent, eorum quoq ; hymnum concinerent.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. J73

meet, and our bounden duty, &c. And the seraphic hymn, Holy,
holy, holy : and therefore in the new communion office lately
published, this thanksgiving form of oblation and consecration is
restored agreeable to the Clementine and all the ancient. Liturgies ^
except the Roman. For even the first Liturgy of king Edward
VI., and the Scotch Liturgy also, as well as the present Liturgy
of the Church of England, had too nearly followed the Roman
Missal in this particular, to be imitated by those who had resolved
to restore the communion service to its primitive institution : of
which the Clementine Liturgy is certainly the best exemplar,
particularly as to this eucharistical or thanksgiving form ; it being
so firmly corroborated by the testimony of Justin Martyr, who
living within fifty years after the Apostolical age, could not but
know a true account of the form which was used by the Apostles
themselves, being contemporary to their immediate successors.
And Justin Martyr having so clearly testified for the antiquity of
this thanksgiving form, the use of it in all the other Liturgies,
except the Roman, is a good evidence of the universality of it-
For though the Roman form may seem an exception to that uni
versality, yet it is not really so, since the testimony of Justin
Martyr may convince us that this was not the old Roman form
used in his days. For Justin was at Rome when he wrote his
apology, and he wrote it to emperors residing at Rome ; and
therefore no doubt gave them an account of matters agreeable to
the practice of the Church of Rome in his days And if the
Christians at Rome had then administered the eucharist, as thev
do now, without an eucharistical or thanksgiving prayer, Justin
must have exposed himself to the just anger of the emperors, for
giving them a false account of the Christian practice. For of
whom should they enquire whether he had told them the truth in
this matter, but of the Christians who inhabited the city where
both they and Justin lived ? Therefore we may reasonably con
clude that this very eucharistical prayer, which is transmitted to
us in the Clementine Liturgy, was used in the Church of Rome
in Justin's days, since there is no other eucharistical prayer in
any Liturgy whatsoever that so fully agrees with the account he
has given of this matter ; there being in no other Liturgy a prayer
of great length to this purpose. And if this long prayer was used
in the Church of Rome in Justin's days, as we have his testimony
that it was, then we have no reason to question but the whofe

174 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Clementine Litnrgy (of which this prayer is the largest part) was
the ancient Liturgy of that Church. For as to the present Roman
Missal, the learned men of the Church of Rome can give no
account when or by whom it was composed, as we may learn
from Cardinal Bona, who says, " Some think pope Gelasius was
the author of the canon; others, Musseus, a presbyter of Marseilles ;
others, Voconius, bishop of Castellana in Mauritania ; others, Gre
gory the great. But Gregory himself says it was composed by a
private scholar, but at what time he doth not tell us."* This is
certain, that it was confirmed and ordered to be used in the
Churches under the Roman Jurisdiction by pope Gregory himself
about the beginning of the seventh century ; and is therefore of too
late an original to be of authority in this case, farther than it is
agreeable to the old traditional form, as we find the several parts
of it borne witness to by some or other of the Ante-Nicene fathers.
And that it is not agreeable to that tradition in the eucharistical
or thanksgiving part is evident from this testimony of Justin, and
consequently is disagreeable to the primitive form used at Rome
in the Apostolical age, and that which succeeded it ; at which
time the Clementine form, or one exactly agreeable to it, was cer
tainly used there, as has been proved. If it be objected that it is
not likely that this Clementine Liturgy should be the ancient
Liturgy of the Church of Rome, the Roman Church being a Latin
Church, and therefore their Liturgy must be in that language,
whereas this was written originally in Greek ; to which it may
be answered, that it has been already proved that there was no
written Liturgy used in any Church till after the Council of Nice.
Consequently that this Liturgy, though written before that time,
was not written for the use of that or any other Church, but was,
only an exemplar or copy of the communion service which was
used in the traditional form at the time when the compiler lived,
And therefore though at Rome, where the compiler probably lived,
the Liturgy was always celebrated in Latin, the language of the
place, yet the person who put it into writing might choose to do
it in Greek, it being the custom even of the native Romans of

* Auctorem canonis quidain fuisse putant Gelasium Papaua, alii Musseum
Presbyterum Masiliensein, alii Voconium Episcopum Castellanensem in Mauri
tanid, alii Gregorium Magnum. At ipse Gregorius lib, 7. epist. 64. ait a
scholastico compositum, sed qu^ pacto id factum fuerit non dicit. Hona Ar
Eebus Liturgicis lib. ii, cap. 1 1. page 477.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 175

that age frequently to write in that language. Thus Hernias, a
Roman, and lit ing at Rome, wrote his book called Pastor, or the
Shepherd, in Greek ; thus Clemens, a Roman, and bishop of
Rome, wrote his undoubtedly genuine epistle in the Greek tongue ;
and to name no more, the emperor Marcus Aurelius himself, to
whom Justin addressed his Apology, wrote a book concerning
himself, and addressed to himself in that language : therefore for
a Roman to write in Greek at that time, was no more than to
comply with the custom of the age in which he lived. Conse
quently that the compiler of this Liturgy, though it was the Roman
Liturgy which he has given us, should write it in the Greek lan
guage, is not to be wondered at ; nor is this any objection why it
might not be the ancient Roman Liturgy. Neither is it to be
doubted, but that forasmuch as many Greeks did in those days
resort to Rome, and many Greek Christians in particular, so the
eucharist was celebrated amongst them in the Greek language,
though in the Roman form, and by Roman priests. Though I
do not conceive that there was any other difference between the
Romans and the Greeks in the form of ministration, than what
will necessarily happen in all traditionary forms, that is, a differ
ence in words, but agreeable in sense ; as we may judge by this
Clementine form, which according to Justin's account of the mat
ter, must be, if not the very form used at Rome, yet certainly
most agreeable to it ; and is also very agreeable to all the forms
used in the Greek Church, in all which forms the eucharistical
prayer is still contained, though contracted or abridged ; but it is
entirely left out in none of them as it is in the present Roman
Missal, all but the preface and seraphic hymn. This testimony
of Justin being so full in favour of the Clementine Liturgy, and
so perfectly agreeable to the form there used, and to which testi
mony no other Liturgy now extant is so agreeable, is a very clear
evidence of the great antiquity of this form, and very much con
firms tvhat I before cited, as the judgment of bishop Hickes and
Mr. Johnson, that "the eucharistical office in the Apostolical
Constitutions, is the standard and test by which all others are to
be tried : and by comparing those with this, the innovations and
additions (he might have added the detractions or defalcations) of
after times, will appear. And that if we had the very words in
which St. Peter and St. Paul consecrated the encharist, it would
not differ in substance from that which is contained in this most

17(> A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

ancient Liturgy." Now, as I have already observed in this
Liturgy, the eucharistical or thanksgiving prayer is continued to
the consecration itself, and the consecration is performed in the
manner of an eucharist or thanksgiving. Thus after a long enu
meration of God's wonderful works and great mercies to his
Church, recorded in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament,
after express mention of the death, resurrection, and ascension of
Christ, and his session at the right hand of God, it proceeds thus ;
" We therefore remembering the things which he suffered for our
sakes, give thanks unto thee, O Almighty God, not as we ought,
but as we are able ; and fulfil his institution, who in the same
night that he was betrayed, taking bread, &c." Again, after a
full recital of the words of institution ; there follows immediately,
" Wherefore having in remembrance his passion, death, and
resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and second
coming with glory and great power to judge the quick and the
dead, and to render to every man according to his works ; we
offer to thee, our King and our God, according to his holy insti
tution, this bread and this cup, &c." Thus the thanksgiving
form is continued to the end of the oblation, which plainly renders
the whole an eucharistical sacrifice, or a sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving. The other Greek Liturgies, as before observed,
have all such a thanksgiving form, that is continued till the obla
tion is made, though not of that great length. Thus the Liturgy
of St. James, immediately after the seraphic hymn, begins the
thanksgiving prayer, saying, " Holy art thou, O eternal King &c.1}
proceeding to praise God for the creation and redemption of man
kind ; and then reciting what our Saviour did for us after he
became man, says, " And when the hour was come, on which he
who had no sin was to suffer a voluntary and life-giving deatli
upon the cross for us sinners ; in the same night that he was
offered, or rather offered up himself, for the life and salvation of
the world, taking bread &c." And when the words of institution
have been fully recited, then follows, " Wherefore having in re
membrance his life-giving passion &c. We sinners offer to thee,
O Lord, &c." So the Liturgy of St. Mark, immediately after the
seraphic hymn, proceeds, " Heaven and earth are truly full of thy
glory, through the manifestation of our Lord and God, and
Saviour Jesus Christ &c. For he our Lord and God and King-
over all, Jesus Christ, in the night wherein he delivered himself

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 177

for our sins, and suffered death in the flesh for all, lying down
with his Disciples and Apostles, took bread, &c. We, O Sove
reign, Lord Almighty, Heavenly King, celebrating the death of
thy only-begotten Son &c., set before thee these thine own gifts,
&c." The Liturgy of St. Chrysostom also immediately after the
seraphic hymn subjoins, " We also, O gracious and merciful God,
cry out and say with these blessed powers, Holy art ihou, and
every way holy, thou and thine only-begotten Son, and thy Holy
Spirit : thou art holy and every way holy, and exceeding great is
thy glory : who so loved thy world, as to give thine only-begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. Who coming into the world, and having fulfilled
every dispensation for us, in the night that he was delivered, or
rather delivered himself for the life of the world, taking bread &c.
We therefore being mindful of this his salutary command, and of
all things which he hath done for us, his cross, burial, &c., offer
to thee &c." So the Constantinopolitan Liturgy of St Basil,
immediately after the seraphic hymn, adds, " We sinners also, O
gracious and merciful God, cry and say with these blessed powers,
Thou art truly holy &c." Then follows a long form of thanks
giving for the creation and redemption of mankind, with a parti
cular recital of God's wonderful mercies shewed by the Incarna
tion of his Son, and proceeds thus, " He left us as a memorial of
his salutary passion, these things which we have set before thee,
according to his commandment. For when he was going forth
to his voluntary, famous, and life-giving death, in the night
wherein he delivered himself for the life of the world, taking
bread, &c. We therefore, O Lord, remembering his salutary
passion, &c., offer to thee, &c." Likewise the Alexandrian
Liturgy of St. Basil, after the seraphic hymn, adds, " Thou, O
Lord our God, art truly holy, holy, holy, who createdst us, and
madest us, and placedst us in a paradise of pleasure," &c. And
having recited what Christ has done for us, proceeds thus, "He
left us this great mystery of piety : for when he was about to
deliver himself to death for the life of the world, he took bread,
&c. Therefore remembering his saving passion, &c., we offer
unto thee, &c." The Ethiopic Liturgy after the seraphic hymn
adds, " Heaven and earth are truly filled with the holiness of thy
glory, through Jesus Christ, &c., who delivered himself of his
own free will, that he might destroy death, and dissolve the
2 A

178 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

bands of Satan, trample hell under his feet, constitute his Testa
ment, and manifest his resurrection. In the same night that he
was betrayed, he took bread, &c. Now also, O Lord, we
celebrating the memorial of his death and resurrection, offer to
thee, &c." In the Liturgy of Nestorius, after the seraphic
hymn, immediately follows ; " And with those celestial powers,
we also, O good Lord, and merciful God, cry and say, Thou art
truly Holy," &c. Then it recounts the mercies of God in Jesus
Christ, and having mentioned particulars, proceeds thus to the
institution. " And he left us as the memorial of our salvation
this mystery which we offer before thee. For when the time
came in which he was delivered for the life of the world, after he
had supped on the legal passover, he took bread, &c. We also,
O Lord God, powerful Father, remember this precept, &c., and
offer to thee." So also in the Liturgy of Severus, immediately
after the seraphic hymn, holy, holy, holy, follows an eucharistical
or thanksgiving prayer, beginning thus : " For who is worthy to
shew forth thy power, or who shall declare thy praises ? For
thou art truly holy," &c. And as it sets forth the love of God in
sending his only begotten Son into the world, after it has spoken
particularly of the incarnation, it proceeds thus ; " Who when he
left his salutary passion and cross to be remembered by us, he
the Physician that healeth our iniquities, offering himself to thee,
O God and Father, to be an oblation for us; he took bread, &c.
We celebrate the memorial of thy death, O Lord," &c. As we
have only fragments of the Gothic, Galilean, and other Liturgies
of the Western Church, which have been laid aside and disused
for near a thousand years past, we cannot say whether they
continued the eucharistical or thanksgiving form till they had
recited the words of institution or not. But of the Liturgies
which are still complete, I find none but the Roman which has
concluded the sacramental eulogy with the seraphic words, Holy
holy, &c, (though Dr. Grabe, in the Annotation before cited from
him, has unwarily asserted it,) but have all continued the
eulogy or thanksgiving to the very oblation which follows the
words of institution in all of them, as is evident from what I have
here cited from the most ancient Liturgies, and even the English
Reader may be farther satisfied from the translation of the
several Liturgies prefixed to this Dissertation. But the Canon
which immediately follows the seraphic words, Holy, holy, &c.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 179

in the Roman Missal, is not an eucharistical or thanksgiving
prayer, but an intercession for the whole Church ; which is
followed by a prayer to God to accept and sanctify the oblation ;
then the words of institution are pronounced ; after which the
memorial also is made as in the other Liturgies. And the first
Liturgy of king Edward VI. exactly followed the Roman Canon
in this particular. But in the second Liturgy, compiled to please
Bucer and Martyr, (as I have shewed,) this intercession was
thrown entirely out of the Canon, contrary to all the Liturgies
that ever were before it, and the prayer of humble address (which
immediately preceded the distribution in the first Liturgy of king
Edward) was interposed between the seraphic hymn and the
consecration. And a new consecration prayer was framed no
more eucharistical than the Roman Form, to which it is more
agreeable than to any other form that I have yet seen. If it be
said that there is no Liturgy now extant, excepting the Clemen
tine, that has an eucharistical or thanksgiving prayer, agreeable
in all points to that prayer which Justin Martyr testifies to have
been used in his time, it may be answered, that all of them
except the Roman, and those that have been reformed, or other
wise taken from it, have such a prayer, only not of the length he
speaks of: but the length of a prayer is only a circumstance ; for
if the same matter be comprized in fewer words, the substance
remains, though the form is abridged. And therefore all the
Liturgies that have an eucharistical or thanksgiving prayer,
setting forth the mercies of God to us, " briefly comprized in the
death, passion, and resurrection of his dearly beloved Son," (as
the Church of England expresses it in the second part of the
Homily concerning the sacrament) have an eucharistical prayer,
agreeing in substance to that used in Justin Martyr's age, and
consequently in the age of the Apostles. Our Saviour most
certainly gave thanks at his taking the bread and breaking it,
and therefore to take the bread and break it without a thanks
giving, is not as he did, and commanded us to do. And I
conceive they are the best friends to the Church of England,
who would call her back to the primitive institution.

§ 15. The next thing in the Clementine Liturgy are the words
of institution, which I suppose no body will charge as an inter
polation in this or any other Liturgy, both Papists and Protestants

180 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

agreeing, (as I have already observed,) that these words are
essential to the consecration of the eucharist, which I shall in no
wise dispute ; but whether nothing more is essential is the ques
tion. The Church of Rome, in the Rubric before the words,
This is my body, This is my blood, declares these to be the
words of consecration, by which that Church seems to mean, and
her greatest champions understand it so, that the whole form of
consecration consists in the due and regular pronunciation of
those words. Nay, she herself tells us so in her directions to the
priest that is to celebrate the mass, where she speaks of the
defects which may happen in the celebration, saying, " The
words of consecration, which are the form of this sacrament, are
these, jFor tfjtS tS tttg foO&g, and, jTot tf)tS IS tttg blOOtJ Of fl)t

Neto an& ISternal ^Testament, tyt mgsterg of fattf), hrfjtrf)
styaU be sfjeB for gou anti for mang for tfje remission of

BlttS." Now, by calling these words the form of the sacrament,
she plainly teaches that no other words but these are necessary
to the consecration of the elements. I have also before shewed *
from the reformation attempted to be made by Herman, Arch
bishop of Colen, in which he had the assistance of Melancthon,
one of the heads of the Lutheran party, and of Bucer, one of the
principal Calvinists, that both these parties agreed, that the whole
of the consecration was performed by the recital of these words.
And from the consecration prayer and Rubric following it, I
have also shewed this to be the opinion of the Church of England ;
from whence I infer, that it is the general opinion also of all
Protestants that believe there is any consecration of the elements.
Now I suppose the reason why they all thus place the whole
form of consecration in these words, is, because they are the only
words recorded by the Evangelists, and St. Paul, which were
spoken by our Saviour when he instituted this holy sacrament.
But then it should be considered, that though they have not told
us what were the other words which our Saviour used on this
occasion, they have plainly enough told us that he did use other
words. For St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. Paul, tell us, that
he gave thanks, of which I have already largely spoken ; and
St. Mark says, that he blessed : now, if he gave thanks and
blessed, before he gave the bread and the cup to his disciples, it

* Supr. § 4.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 181

is manifest that he used other words when he consecrated the
elements besides those recorded in the scriptures. It is also to
be noted, that those words which are recorded, Take, eat, this is
my body, tyc., were not addressed to God, but are the words he
spake to his disciples after he had addressed himself to his Father,
teaching them what was the effect produced by that address.
For consecration consists in the oblation or dedication of some
thing to God, and therefore must be performed by some address
made to him, and not by words directed and applied to men.
For which reason these words, which were spoken by Christ to
his disciples, could not be the whole consecration of the elements,
or the dedication of them to God, but are partly his declaration
of the effect produced by the consecration. Therefore Cardinal
Bona had no just reason to censure Erasmus for what he said on
this occasion. For, that learned prelate says, " Erasmus Rotero-
damus shewed his rashness and impiety, when in his annotations
on the eleventh chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians he
says, that he wishes the scripture had taught us, with what
words Christ consecrated, and with what words we ought to
consecrate. For the scripture has taught us both, and the Church
having learned it from thence by a divine authority, has clearly
delivered it, that we ought to do as our Lord did ; from whom the
Apostle says, he received what he also delivered to us : and as
Erasmus is wont to appeal to the ancient fathers, if he had had
ears to hear, Tertullian, the most ancient Latin father, might
have taught him, who in his fourth book against Marcion, chap,
xl., says, That bread which he took, and distributed to his
disciples, he made his body, in saying, This is my body"* But
the Cardinal was wiser than to put in the immediate following
words of Tertullian in this place, Hoc est figura corporis met.
This is the figure, type, or representative of my body. Words

* Erasmus Roterodamus temeritatem suam ac iuipietatem ostendit, cum in
annotationibus ad 1 Cor. cap. xi. optare se ait, ut scriptura nobis exprimeret,
quibus verbis Christus consecravit, & quibus nos oporteat consecrare, utrumque
enim scriptura expressit, & manifesto tradidit Ecclesia divino uiagisterio edocta,
debere nos facere quemadmodum fecit Dominus, a quo Apostolus accepisse se
ait quod & tradidit nobis : et quandoquidem Erasmus ad antiques patres pro-
vocare solet, docere eum poterat, si aures audieridi habuisset, Latinoruin
antiquissimus Tertullianus, qui lib. 4. adv. Marcionem cap. 40, ait, Acceptum
panem % distribulum discipulis corpus illud sttum fecit dicendo, Hoc cat Corpus tneum,
Bona de Rebus Liturgicis lib. 2. cap. 13. page 774.

A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

that effectually overthrow the doctrine of transubstantiation, a
darling article of the Church of Rome. But sure, if one part of
this passage be of authority, the other part is so also. And there
fore, if the Romanists will insist upon the former part of this
passage, the Protestants have just reason to insist upon the latter.
And I confess, I am very willing and ready to allow the authority
in both particulars. 1 freely grant, that Christ made, that is,
appointed it to be his body, in saying, 2Tf)t8 18 tttg iJOBg. And
I am also firmly persuaded, that by his fco&g in that case he
meant only the figure, type, or representative of his body.

But we are not now treating of the doctrine of transubstantia
tion, and therefore I need at present only to examine the former
part of the passage as quoted by the cardinal, who produces this
passage, to shew that it was the opinion of Tertullian, that Christ
consecrated with the words, This is my body. But Tertullian
asserts no such thing, nor tells us in what words our Saviour
consecrated. For he speaks nothing at all of consecration, that
is, of dedicating or offering any thing to God, or of blessing or
sanctifying it ; for what is the meaning of the word consecrate
but to offer or dedicate to God, or to bless and sanctify. But as
I have shewed, the words, This is my body, were not addressed
to God, but to the disciples, by which he declared or shewed
what he had in the consecration before made and taught them,
that bread so offered or dedicated to God, and so blessed and
sanctified, was his body, that is, the figure or representative of
his body. And in saying so, evidently made, that is, appointed
or ordered bread so consecrated and broken, should be his repre
sentative or sacramental body. Nor do I see that anything more
can be made of Tertullian's words. He was disputing against
Marcion, an heretic, who denied our Saviour to have had a real
body, but only the phantasm or apparition of a body. And
amongst other arguments which he makes use of to confute this
heresy, he thought it proper to form one from the eucharist, which
as he says, he made his body, in saying, &i)t8 IS ttlg foO&g, that
is, the figure of my body. And then immediately adds, * " But
it would not have been the figure or representative, except his

* Figura autem non fuisset nisi veritatis esset corpus. Caeterum vacua res.
quod est phantasraa, figuram capere non posset. Aut si propterea panem cor
pus sibi finxit, quia corporis carebat veritate, ergo panem debuit tradere pro
nobis.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 183

body had been a true and real body. But a phantom is an empty
thing that can have no figure or representative. Or if he, there
fore, formed bread into a body for himself, because he wanted a
real body, then he ought to have delivered the bread for us." It
is plain, therefore, from the design of Tertullian in this passage,
that it was no part of his purpose to inform us with what words
Christ consecrated the bread. His business was only to shew
that bread, by Christ's institution, was made Ms body, that is, as
he explains himself, the figure of his body. And from thence
infers that he must have a real body, since there could be no
figure or representative of a phantasm. And to prove this, he
says, that Christ made, that is, appointed or instituted the bread,
which he took and distributed to his disciples, to be his body, in
saying, This is my body. For if Christ called it his body, that
is, the representative of his body, there can be no better evidence
that he made it to be so. Those words are demonstrative that
he made it to be his body ; but then they are not demonstrative,
that those words were the efficient cause by which it was made
so, nor do Tertullian's words necessarily imply it, and they seein
to me, to mean no more than that our Saviour, by those words,
did declare the bread which he had consecrated to be his body.
Therefore, Erasmus, notwithstanding this passage of Tertullian's,
might very well say, that, " He wished the scriptures had taught
us with what words Christ consecrated, and with what words we
ought to consecrate. For if Tertullian did mean that the whole
consecration was really to be made by these words only, (though
I do not think that he did, or that his words necessarily imply it)
he is perfectly singular in his opinion. For as Mr. Johnson *
has very fully proved, though the Church always believed that
there was very great force and energy in those words, yet they
did not believe that the recital of those words by the priest was
all that was necessary to the consecration of the eucharist. He
plainly proves, that they judged three things to be necessary to
the consecration of this sacrament. 1. The reciting the words
of institution. 2. The oblation of the symbols. 3. The prayer
of invocation. All these three in this Clementine Liturgy now
under our consideration, and, as he observes, in all the ancient
Liturgies, immediately follow each other in the order here men-

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part I. page 234. &.c.

181 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

tioned ; and each of them was believed to contribute toward the
consecration of the elements. Nor can I find anything in Tertul-
lian's words, as urged by the learned cardinal or other Romanists,
which contradict this. St. Chrysostom, as cited by Mr. Johnson
in the place I but now referred to, says much the same that
Tertullian does, only he explains himself a little more fully.
"The priest" says he, " fulfilling his office, stands pronouncing
those words, but the power and grace is of God ; that word, This
is my body, fyc., changes the gifts laid in open view ; and as the
word that says, Increase and multiply, was but once pronounced,
but is actually operative on our nature ever since ; so that voice
once pronounced, has its effects on the prepared sacrifice, on the
table of the churches from that time to this, and until his own
advent." Here St. Chrysostom plainly teaches that this word of
Christ, This is my body, operates as the word of God does in
other cases, particularly as it operates in the words, increase and
multiply. As, therefore, the words increase and multiply do
not operate but when those rites are performed which God has
appointed for that purpose, so neither according to St. Chrysostom
do the words this is my body, but when those things are done
which Christ did and commanded. What those things are, I
shall shew more particularly when I come to speak of the oblation
and invocation. In the mean time, I shall content myself with
bishop Morton's answer to the Romanists on this head, which I
hope may be of more weight with the members of the Church of
England, than anything I can say. For, besides the cogency of
the reasons and authorities which he brings to prove his point,
which, 1 think, are most of them unanswerable, his very authority
(as he was an eminent bishop of the Church of England for above
forty years, that is, from 1616. to 1659.) v\ill be, I am persuaded,
of more authority with some of the most zealous adversaries to
the doctrine I am now defending, than all the ancient fathers put
together. This learned prelate then in his discourse of the insti
tution of the sacrament of the blessed body and blood of Christy
4f£. printed at London 1635.* Amongst the ten transgressions
of the canon of Chris fs institution, with which he charges the
Church of Rome, is this which I am now treating of, saying,
" The first transgression of the (now) Charch of Rome, incon-

* Page 9. Sect. 3.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 185

tradicting Christ 7m- canon, is collected out of these words,
HU0 ty fclegsefc tt ; which concern the consecration of this sa
crament. First of the bread, the text saith, He blessed it: next
of the cup, it is said, When he had given thanks; which words,
in your own judgments, are all one as if it should be said, He
blessed it with giving of thanks. By the which word) blessing,
he dolh imply a consecration of this sacrament. The canon of
the Romish Mass attributeth the property and power of con
secration of this sacrament only unto the repetition of these words
of Christ, This is my body, and this is my blood, fyc. and that
from the judgment, as some say, of your Council of Florence and
Trent. Moreover, you also alleged for this purpose your public
Catechism and Roman Missal, both which were authorised by
the Council of Trent, and command of Pius Quintus, then pope.
Whereupon it is that you use and attribute such efficacy to the
very words, pronounced with a priestly intention, as to change
all the bread in a baker's shop, and wine in the vintner's cellar,
into the body and blood of Christ. And your 8nmma Angelica
speaketh more largely concerning the bread, namely, if it were
done conformably to the intention of the Church, and two of your
Jesuits, concerning both kinds. But Christophorus, your own
Archbishop of Caesarea, in his book dedicated to pope Sixtus
Quintus, and written professedly upon this subject, cometh in,
compassed about with a cloud of witnesses and reasons, to prove
that the consecration, used by our Saviour, was performed by
that his blessing by prayer, which preceded the pronouncing of
those words, |§OC est (£flrjms ttmtttt, This is my body, Sfc. To
this purpose he is bold to aver, that Thomas Aquinas, and all
Catholics before Cajetane, have confessed that Christ did con
secrate in that his BcneUtTtt, that is, he blessed it. And that
St. James, and Dionyse the Areopagite did not consecrate only
in the other words, but by prayer. Then he assureth us that
the Greek Churches maintained, that consecration consistent
in benediction by prayer, and not in the only repetition of the
words aforesaid. After this he produceth your subtlest school
man — Scotus, accompanied with divers others, who derided those
1hat attributed such supernatural virtue to the other form of
words. You shall further find alleged the testimonies of pope
Gregory, Hierome, Ambrose, Bernard, and (to ascend higher) the
Liturgies of Clement, Basil, Chrysostom, and of the Roman
2 B

186 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Church itself, in gainsaying of the consecration by the only words
of institution, as you pretend. And in the end he draweth in
two popes, one contradicting the other in this point ; and hath no
other means to stint their jarr, but (whereas the authority of both
is equal) to think it just to yield rather to the better learned of
them both. Whosoever requireth more, may be satisfied by
reading of the book itself. And yet we would be loth to pretermit
the (confessed) testimony of your Jesuit Gordon out of St. Augus
tine, attesting that in this sacrament, the fruit of the earth is
consecrated by mystical prayer. It will not suffice to say, that
you also use prayer in the Romish Liturgy : for the question is
not merely of praying, but wherein the form of benediction and
consecration more properly doth consist. Now, none can say
that he consecrated by that prayer, which he believeth is not
ordained for consecration.

" We may further take hold, by the way, of the testification of
Mr. Brerely, a Romish priest, who out of Basil and Chrysostom?
(calling one part Calix benedictione sacratus} alloweth Bene
diction to have been the Consecration thereof. All this army of
witnesses were no better than meteors, or imaginary figures of
battailles in the air, if that answer of Bellarmine may go for
warrant, to wit, that the only pronunciation of these word's, fgOC
£8t <£0t|WS ttWtttt, imply in them, as he saith, an invocation or
prayer. Which words, as any man may perceive, Christ spake
not supplicatory unto God, but declaratively unto his Apostles,
accordingly as the text speaketh, He said unto them, as is also
well observed by the aforesaid Archbishop of Caesarea, out of St.
Hierome. But none of you, we presume, will dare to say that
Christ did invocate his disciples. This might Bellarmine have
learned from antiquity, if he had not rather affected to have been
a doctor over all others, than a scholar to the Primitive fathers ;
who teach that Christ revealed not unto any his words of invoca
tion by prayer wherewith he consecrated ; which they would not
have said, if they had judged these words, 2TJ)t0 IS ttt£ fcfl&j), to
imply in them an invocation. These words therefore are of
declaration, and not of invocation. Which now Romish doctrine
of consecrating by reciting these words, 77m- is my body, §c.
your divines of Colen have judged to be a fierce madness, as
being repugnant both to the Eastern arid Western Churches.
But we have heard divers Western authors speak, give leave to

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 187

(Nicholas Cabasilas, Archbishop of Thessalonica) an Eastern
Archbishop, to deliver his mind. No apostle or doctor is known
to affirm, saith he, those sole words of Christ to have been
sufficient for consecration. So he, three hundred years since?
satisfying also the testimony of St. Chrysostom, objected to the
contrary. This Archbishop, you grant, was famous in his time,
living about the year 1300, to whom, as you know, the Bishop of
Ephesus, and the Patriarch of Constantinople did accord, saying
that this sacrament is not made as soon as these words are
uttered, but afterwards, by certain prayers of the Church.
And why these Greek fathers should not rather resolve us of the
ancient Greek tenor of consecration, than any of your late
Italian or Latin doctors, who will make question ? As for your
other Greek Patriarch Bessarion, who was made cardinal by
your Church, on purpose that he might make some opposition
to his fellows, we make no other account of him than of an hire
ling. None of the great multitude of fathers, who have required
the use of prayer besides these words, This is my body, did
thereby testify that they held these words to be words of invoca
tion. As miserable and more intolerable is the answer of others,
who said that the Evangelists have not observed the right order
of Christ his actions: as if he had first said, This is my body, by
way of consecration, and after commanded them to take and eat .
Which answer your own Jesuit hath branded with the note of
falsity: yea, so false it is, that (as is further avouched; all
ancient Liturgies, as well Greek as Latin, constantly held, that
in the order of the tenor of Christ his institution it was first said,
Take ye, before that he said, This is my body. Lastly, your
other lurking-hole is as shameful as the former, where when the
judgment of antiquity is objected against you, requiring that
consecration be done directly by prayer unto God ; you answer,
that some fathers did use such speeches in their sermons to the
people, but in their secret instruction of priests did teach
otherwise. Which answer (besides the falsity hereof) we take
to be no better than a reproach against antiquity, and all one as
to say, that those venerable witnesses of truth would profess one
thing in the cellar, and proclaim the contrary on the house top.
It were to be wished, that when you frame your answers to direct
other men's consciences, you would first satisfy your own,
especially being occupied in souls' businesses. We conclude,

188 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

seeing that form (as all learning teacheth) yiveth being unto all
things ; therefore your Church, albeit she use prayer, yet erring
in her judgment concerning the perfect manner and form of
consecration of this sacrament, how shall she be credited in the
materials ? wherein she will be found, as well as in this, to have
transgressed the same injunction of Christ, 13d tf)tS» Neverthe
less, this our conclusion is not so to be interpreted, as (hearken
to Mr. Brerely) to exclude out of the words of this celebration
the repetition and pronunciation of these words, This is my body,
and, This is my blood of the New Testament. Far be this from
us, because we hold them to be essentially belonging to the
narration of the institution of Christ, and are used in the Liturgy
of our Church : for although they be not words of blessing and
consecration, (because not of petition but of repetition) yet are
they words of direction ; and, withal, significations and testifica
tions of the mystical effects thereof. For a further manifestation^
hearken you unto that which is written : " Every creature of God
is good, if it be sanctified with the word of God and with
prayer."* Wherein we find a double acceptation of sanctification;
the one of ordination, by the Word of God ; the other of bene
diction, namely, by prayer. For example, the eating of swine's
flesh is sanctified to the use of a Christian, first by ordination,
because the Word of God in the New Testament hath taught us
the lawful use of swine's flesh ; and secondly, by benediction, by
prayer, or giving of thanks, in which respect it is that the
Apostle calleth one part the cup of blessing, f Both of these are
to be found in our sacramental food, wherein we have the
sanctification thereof, both by the word of Christ in the tenor of
his first institution, He took bread, $c. adding, Do this ; as also
by public blessing in prayer, which is more properly called
consecration. And although in our domestical feasts, the second
course is blessed in the grace, which was said upon the first
service; so the second supply of bread and wine (if it shall
inordinately so happen) may not altogether be denied to be
consecrated by the blessing pronounced on the first; (even as the
sanctifying of the sheaf of corn was the hallowing of the whole
field,) notwithstanding our Church has cautiously ordained, that
the words of institution, He look bread, fyc. be applied to every

* 1 Tim. iv. 4. f 1 Cor. x. 16.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 189

oblation of new bread and wine, for accommodation's sake, as
they are referred in our Liturgy ; wherein they are necessarily
joined together with the words of prayer and benediction.
Therefore where you shall find in the fathers the words of
Christ's institution, called consecration, (as it is in Chrysostom
and Ambrose, it must be understood as joined with prayer, as
the benediction itself, which has been already copiously confessed ;
as well as it has furthermore been acknowledged by your Jesuit
Cressolius, that sometimes the whole sacred action was called
consecration, insomuch that the deacon, who doth not meddle
with the words of consecration, is notwithstanding called a
consecrator by St. Ambrose."" Thus this worthy and learned
Prelate has very fully proved against the Church of Rome, both
from Scripture and fathers, as cited and applied by learned men
of that communion, that the words, This is my body, $c., are not
the form of consecration used by Christ, neither did the Catholic
Church esteem the consecration to be made by the recital of
those words. But though I conceive he has fully and unanswer
ably refuted this ttflto Romish doctrine, (as he justly calls it)
having so plainly proved it not to be the ancient doctrine of that
Church, yet whether he have sufficiently cleared the Church of
England from maintaining that very doctrine, which he has so
learnedly refuted, is a point in which I am not satisfied. The
words in the Rubric of the communion service in the Church of
England are these : " If the consecrated bread or wine be all
spent before all have communicated, the priest is to consecrate
more according to the form before prescribed, beginning at Our
Saviour Christ in the same night, 8$c. for the blessing of the
bread ; and at Likewise after supper, fyc. for the blessing of the
cup." I confess, I cannot find this Rubric in the Liturgy of the
Church of England before the restoration of king Charles II. that
is, till a year or two after bishop Morton died, and near thirty
years after the publication of his book; from whence I have
made this long citation. However, there seems to have been
some order or Rubric to the same purpose, (though I have not
yet met with it) since the bishop so expressly says, " Our Church
has courteously ordained, that the words of institution, He took
bread, %c. be applied to every oblation of new bread and wine."
But however the matter stood then, it is certain there is such a
Rubric now, which every priest of the Church of England is

190 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

obliged to give his assent and consent to, and to practice accord
ingly. Let us see then how the bishop solves this, and clears
the Church of England from maintaining the same doctrine,
which he has so learnedly condemned in the Church of Rome.
He says, " In our domestical feasts, the second course is blessed
in the grace, which was said upon our first service ; so the
second supply of bread and wine (if it shall inordinately so
happen) may not altogether be denied to be consecrated by the
blessing pronounced upon the first. And the words of institution
are applied to every oblation of new bread arid wine, for accom
modation's sake only." Now, how well soever this exposition
might agree to the Rubric bishop Morton refers to, (which 1
confess I have never seen) it is certain it will not solve the
present rubric, or clear it from maintaining, as the Romanists do,
that the words of institution are all that is necessary to the
consecration of the elements. For, if whatever bread be brought
and placed upon the altar a second or third time, be consecrated
by the blessing pronounced upon what was placed there at first,
as the bishop asserts, then the consecrated bread and wine cannot
be all spent during the ministration, so long as they can have any
fresh supply : because, according to the bishop's argument, the
second supply is consecrated by the blessing pronounced on the
first. But the Rubric plainly supposes this supply to be uncon-
secrated, and therefore orders the priest to consecrate it. Now
I cannot persuade myself, that those who put this Rubric into
the Liturgy, or any that subscribe to it, and officiate accordingly,
were or are so tveak as to think that what is already consecrated ?
needs a second consecration. The command therefore of the
priest to consecrate this supply, evidently demonstrates that the
Church of England does not suppose it to have been consecrated
by the former blessing. How then is the priest to consecrate
this supply ? The Rubric directs that he shall only recite the
words of institution. Is not this a demonstrative argument, that
this Church teaches that nothing more is necessary to the con
secration of the elements, than the pronouncing over them the
words of institution ? I think it is as evident as if she had said so
in express words. What therefore bishop Morton says to the
Romanists on this occasion, may too justly be applied to the
communion office of the Church of England. " It will not suffice
to say that you also use prayer in your Liturgy : for the question

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 191

is not merely of praying, but wherein the form of benediction and
consecration more properly doth consist. Now none can say
that he consecrateth by that prayer which he believeth is not
ordained for consecration." The Reverend and learned Mr.
Wheatly, a gentleman well versed in Liturgical forms,* endea
vours to mollify the sense of this Rubric, as not knowing how to
defend it. His words are these : " In the Rubric after the form
of administration, the Church seems to suppose that the consecra
tion is made by the words of institution ; for there it says, that
if the consecrated bread and wine be spent before all have com
municated, the priest is to consecrate more according to the
form prescribed ; beginning at, Our Saviour Christ in the same
night, &c. for the blessing of the bread: and at, Likewise after r-
supper, &c./br the blessing of the cup. This Rubric was added
in the last review ; but to what end, unless to save the minister I
some time, does not appear. For though all Churches in the
world have, through all ages, used the words of institution at the
time of consecration, yet none, that I know of, except the Church
of Rome, ever attributed the consecration to the bare pronouncing
of those words only : but the change of the elements into the
body and blood of Christ was always attributed by the most
ancient fathers to the prayers of the Church. Whether this was
the opinion of those that added this Rubric, I know not ; but yet
I humbly presume, that if the minister should at the consecration
of fresh elements, after the others are spent, repeat again the
whole form of consecration, he would answer the end of the
Rubric, which seems only to require that the latter part of the
form from those words, Who in the same night, 8$c. be always
used at such consecration." This worthy and learned gentleman
plainly saw the error of this Rubric, and finding no means of
reconciling it to the doctrine of the Primitive Church in this
matter, with which he appears to be well acquainted, and being
unwilling to own the Church of England to have run into the
error of the Church of Rome in this point, he would intimate,
that the Church does not suppose the consecration to be made bv
those words only, but that she should not have those words
omitted in any consecration. And I confess, I should be as
ready as any one to give the same interpretation of it, if I

* " Church of England Man's Companion," &c. 2nd Edit. p. 194.

192 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

conceived the words of the Rubric might bear it ; for I have been,
and am still very unwilling to find any defect in the Church of
England, or any blemish either in her doctrine or discipline : but
if the blemish is so apparent that it cannot be hid, and of such
consequence that it ought not, I think it is then every man's duty
to take notice of it, and (according to his station) to use his best
endeavour to have it recited. And therefore I commend Mr.
Wheatly, for proposing that the minister should at the consecra
tion of fresh elements, after the others are spent, repeat again
the whole form of consecration, (supposing, but not granting, for
which I shall hereafter give my reasons, that the whole form is a
proper form of consecration) and T suppose his own practice is
agreeable thereto ; which is all that he can do in the station he
is in towards an amendment of this matter; and I suppose he
may be connived at for so doing. But if his diocesan should see
convenient to take notice of it, and require him to adhere strictly
to the Rubric, which expressly requires him to begin at the
words, Our Saviour Christ in the same night that he was
betrayed, 8fc. I see not how he would justify himself in this
matter. For he certainly breaks the uniformity required by the
Church of England, if he will say the whole prayer, where the
Church enjoins but the latter part of it. And besides, he shews
his opinion to be contrary to that of the Church whereof he
professes himself a member and a minister, by saying, that the
priest does not consecrate by the loords of institution, when the
Rubric so expressly tells him, that he is to consecrate by those
words. Mr. Wheatly indeed supposes that this Rubric was
added in the last Review, only to save the minister some time ;
but I conceive the words of the Rubric shew that could not be
the design of it, for they are clear and plain ; the priqst w to
COUS£Cttlt£ more, beginning at Our Saviour Christ in the same
night, &c. And calThe consecrate without saying all that is
necessary to the consecration ? I cannot have so mean opinion of
those that reviewed the common prayer at the restoration, as to
think they were so careful of an expence of time as to order or
allow the minister to omit any thing which they thought necessary
to consecration, when they required him to consecrate. But Dr.
Comber, (who lived with many who had an hand in this Review,
and who, I doubt not, conversed with several of them, having
many opportunities to do so, and I question not but when he

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 193

formed his design of writing, which lie did whilst many concerned
in the Review were still alive, he consulted with them concern
ing their reasons for the additions and alterations they had made)
tells us, that the words of institution are the consecration itself.
For in his '* Analysis of the Prayer of Consecration," he calls the
last part of it, beginning with the words, Who in the same night,
Sfc. 2Ti)e consecration ttSClf, reciting the acts and words of
Jesus in the first institution. But the placing the consecration
in such a recital of the acts and words of Jesus in the first
institution, bishop Morton, a bishop and champion of the Church
of England, condemns as a Romish error, and calls it a trans
gression of the canon of ChrisVs institution, and not only calls
it so, but has very clearly and fully proved it to be so. And Mr.
Wheatly, a learned divine of the Church of England, who has
taken a great deal of useful pains to explain and defend her
Liturgy, says expressly, that none he yet knoivs, except the
Church of Rome, ever attributed the consecration to the hare
pronouncing of these 'words only. So that if the Church of
England does, like the Church of Rome, place the form of con
secration in the bare pronouncing these words only, as I think
it is clear from her Rubric that she does, she is plainly condemned
by a very learned bishop and a learned priest of her own commu
nion as guilty of a Romish error.

§ 16. The next observable passage in the Clementine Liturgy,
is the mixture of the eucharistical cup, particularly expressed in
the recital of the words of institution, Likewise also mixing the
cup with wine and water and blessing it, he gare it to thon,
fyc. Thus this most ancient Liturgy not only testifies that it was
the practice of the Church to mix water with the eucharistical
wine, but teaches us that Christ himself did so also, thereby
informing us of the necessity of such a mixture, since it is neces
sary that we should offer the same elements which Christ offered,
or we do not do as he did, and commanded us to do. All the
Liturgies here published take notice of this mixture, and either
direct by some Rubric that water should be mingled with the
wine, or make express mention of such a mixture in the recital
of the words of -institution, as the Clementine Liturgy has here
done. Thus the Liturgy of St. James, like the Clementine, in
the recital of what our Saviour did, says, Likewise after supper
2 c

194 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

he took the cup and mixed it with wine and water. So the
Liturgy of St. Mark says, Likewise also after supper he took
the-cup and mixed it with wine and water. The Liturgy of
St. Chrysostom orders the deacon to put wine and water into
the cup before the priest takes it to place upon the altar. The
Constantinopolitan Liturgy of St. Basil is directed by the same
Rubrics with that of St. Chrysostom : consequently the deacon is
obliged to mix the cup when that Liturgy is used in the same
manner. Also there is mention made of the mixture in the recital
of the words of institution, Likewise taking the cup of the fruit
of the vine, mingling it, fyc. The Alexandrian Liturgy of St.
Basil speaks also like the Clementine, Likewise also the cup,
after they had supped, mixing it with wine and water, Sfc.
The Ethiopia Liturgy orders the water to be mixed with the
wine in the beginning of the administration. The Liturgy of
Nestorius mentions the mixture in the recital of the words of
institution, In like man tier also he mingled the cup with wine
and water. The Liturgy of Severus speaks in the same manner,
Likewise also he took the cup after they had supped, and
mingling it with wine and water, fyc. In the Roman Missal,
as soon as the offertory is said, and the priest has put the bread
upon the paten and'the wine into the cup, he is ordered to pour
a litlte pure water into the cup also. That the same custom
was observed in the Gallican Church, before the Roman Missal
was there received and used, and consequently in the British
Church * which used the Gallican Liturgy, we may learn from
the fourth canon of the fourth Council of Orleans, held in the
year 541, where the priest is forbidden to offer any thing in the
chalice but wine mixed with water. That the African Churches
always mixed water with the eucharistic wine, we learn from the
testimony of St. Cyprian, which I shall have occasion to mention
hereafter. Consequently it was also the practice of the Church
of Spain, whilst they used the Mosarabic Liturgy, which they
received from the African Church, and which was used there before
the Roman Missal was received in that country. Thus have we the
testimony of all the ancient Churches from East to West, from
North to South, testifying their universal practice and agreement
in the mixture of water with the sacramental wine ; and the

- r ~t>r
* Stillingfleet, Origines Britannicae, p. 216.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 195

same^was also ordered in the first reformed Liturgy of king
Edward VT. Which testimonies are, I conceive, a sufficient
proof of the universality and consent of all Churches, and conse
quently of all Christians in this practice. It is indeed urged
against this universal consent, that the Armenians offer only wine
unmixed with water, or any thing else in the eucharist, and have
done so for many ages. But then it is evident from the Council
in Trullus,* that they began not this practice till after St. Chry-
sostom's time, about the beginning of the fifth century, founding
it upon a passage in his interpretation of the gospel according to
St. Matthew, which they misunderstood. But a practice intro
duced so late can never have any pretence to apostolical tradition ;
neither can an innovation made by one particular Church, as this
plainly was, overthrow that universality and consent, which,
according to the rule of Vicentius Lirinensis, we plead for;
especially when such innovation has been condemned by a general
Council, as this of the Armenians was by the Council in Trullus.
This practice of the Armenians is so far from overthrowing the
universal consent of all Churches in this point, that it confirms
and establishes it, since the practice, soon after it was received
and became known to other Churches, was so unanimously con
demned by all of them. And I do not remember to have met
with any other, besides the Armenians, that excluded water from
the eucharistic cup, till Calvin and his followers began the
practice at Geneva, from whence it was brought hither by Bucer,
Martyr, Fagius, and their partizans, by whose interest the water
was also excluded from the sacramental cup in the English
Liturgy, where our first reformers had thought expedient to retain
it. I conceive, therefore, I have sufficiently proved the univer
sality of this tradition; for the Armenians casting it off, and
introducing a contrary practice near or altogether 400 years after
the institution, and for the Church of England and the other
reformers to do the same 1500 years after in direct opposition to
the uninterrupted practice of all other Churches in the world, is
plain innovation and not tradition; and therefore cannot be
fairly urged to impeach the universality of this tradition, which
is allowed on all hands to be as old as Justin Martyr's time, who
wrote his first Apology not above fifty years after the death of St.

* Can. 32.

196 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

John, which ! I have already proved to be early enough to give
testimony to apostolical doctrines. The only objection to this f
is, that the writings of the New Testament could not have been
expected to pass over this usage in silence, had it been then
known, to be a part of our Saviour'* s institution. J This is also
the argument of Chemnitius against the decree of the Council of
Trent. So the learned Mr. Johnson says, " It is certain, that the
Primitive Christians did offer water mingled with wine in the
eucharistical cup. Justin Martyr, Irenocus, Clemens Alexan-
drinus, and Cyprian, do expressly mention it : and though we
know there were Heretics that used water only in the sacrament;
yet we have not heard of any in the most primitive times that
used wine alone, either in the Church or without it : and this
practice remained universal for the first fifteen hundred years
after Christ, in all Churches, excepting that of &fttWUa. It is
certain three of the Evangelists do intimate, that the cup offered
by Christ was wine, or the fruit of the vine ; and since the Scrip
ture makes no mention of water, 1 hope all learned, charitable
Christians will judge favourably of the Church of England for
using none." ||

But though this very worthy and learned gentleman seems to
think the water not necessary, because not expressly mentioned in
scripture, yet, he plainly enough shews that he thinks the Church of
England had done better not to have omitted the water, saying :
'' Arid on the other side, we of the Church of England ought by no
means to censure others who put water into the cup ; for they
have the consent of the Church Catholic of all ages with them in
this particular. Pfalfius shews that the cup of blessing among
the Jews did for the most part consist of wine mixt with water,
and from thence concludes that the primitve church took this
practice from them, as it is certain they did several others. He
might from the use of the Jews have safely inferred, that it is most
probable our Saviour qualified the wine with water; for the wine
blessed by our Saviour for the eucharist, was what remained
after the conclusion of the passover. It is observable, that Moses
takes no notice of the water mingled with the blood of the cove-

* Postscript to Necessary Use of Tradition, &e. p. 173.

f No Suilicicnt Reason, p. 37.

\ Exaniin. Concil. Trident, par. 2. fol. 897, &<•.

!! Unbloody Sacrifice, Part 2. pp. 58, 59.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 197

nanting sacrifices offered at his own directions ; yet St. Paul
assures us, that Moses took the blood with water. No certain
conclusion can be drawn from the evangelists' omission, any more
than from that of Moses, The mixture of water with the wine,
makes the old and new covenant more exactly to answer to each
other." But because such a stress is laid upon the words fruit
of the vine, as if that must necessarily be understood to mean
wine alone without any mixture, and to say that those words,
fruit of the vine, do plainly teach us that the wine was mixed
which our Saviour gave to his disciples, seems to be a great
absurdity to some persons ; therefore, though the words fruit of
the vine have been, I think, sufficiently proved to signify, in the
Jews' language, which our Saviour spake at the institution, * not
pure but mixt wine, yet I judge it proper to shew here that the
scripture itself evidently teaches us, that our Saviour, by the
words fruit of the vine, ^ plainly meant the paschal cup. I
will then prove, that not only the Jews, but the Primitive Christ
ians, also understood those -very words to imply a mixed cup,
Now that our Saviour, when he used the words fruit of the
vine, evidently understood thereby the paschal cup, is manifest
from St, Luke's relation of the institution. "And he said unto
them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you
before I surfer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat
thereof, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took
the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this and divide it
amongst yourselves. For I say unto you, I will no more drink of
the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And
he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave it to them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you : this do in
remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying
This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for
you."f This demonstrably shews, that when our Saviour used
the words fruit of the vine, he spoke of the paschal cup ; his
words, With desire have I desired to eat this passover with
you, evidently teach us that it could be no other. And when

* Reasons for restoring some prayers and directions, as they stand in the com
rauniou service of the first reformed Liturgy, &c. page 1. &.c. Defence of the
reasons, page 2. Vindication of the defence, page 15. Necessity of an altera
tion, page 2. And in the postscript to the necessary use of tradition, page 170.
f Luke xxii, 15. &c.

198 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

they had divided that cup amongst them, and so concluded the
paschal supper, then he instituted the eucharist, and gave them
bread and the cup again, as the emblems of his body and blood.
Now the paschal cup, as all that are acquainted with the Jewish
customs agree, was a mixed cup, a cup containing wine and
water mingled together, which cup they always called the fruit
of the vine. And therefore though St. Matthew and St. Mark do
not so plainly tell us that it was the paschal cup which our
Saviour called the fruit of the vine ; yet since St. Luke has
done it, we cannot say that the scripture does not clearly teach
us that our Saviour spoke of the paschal cup when he used those
words. Consequently, as the paschal cup was always a mixed
cup, the text of St. Luke teaches us that it was a mixed cup,
which our Saviour gave to his disciples when he instituted the
eucharist, though denoted by the words fruit of the vine. And
though St. Luke does not say that this paschal cup, which he men
tions, as given before the institution, was the same cup which he
afterwards gave in the institution, yet St. Matthew and St. Mark
denoting the cup given in the institution in the same manner with
this which was given before it, shew that also to be a paschal
cup, and if not the same cup with the former, yet a cup of the
same kind, since what it contained was denoted by the same name.
And that the Primitive Christians understood the words fruit of
the vine to signify not pure wine, but a mixture of wine and
water, is evident not only from their constant practice in always
so mixing the eucharistic cup from the Apostles' days, as is tes
tified by Justin Martyr, the earliest writer that has given us any
account of this matter since the evangelists, and who wrote
within fifty years of the apostolical age, but also from the express
testimony of St. Cyprian, who lived about an hundred years after
Justin ;"who writing against the Aquarii, those who put only
water into the communion cup, speaks thus ; Our Lord, on the
day of his passion, taking the cup, blessed it, and gave it to his
disciples, saying, Drink ye all of this ; for this is my blood of
the New Testament, which shall be shed for many for the re
mission of sins. I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of
I his fruit of the vine, until that day I shall drink nciv wine
with you in my Father's Kingdom* Now if St. Cyprian, and

* Caliccm etcnim sub die passionis accipiens, benedixit, & dcdit discipulis
suis, diccns, Bibitc ex hoc omnes; hie est enira sanguis Novi Testament!, qui

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 199

the Church in his time, had understood the words fruit of the
vine to signify pure wine, and not a mixture, he must have thus
argued from them, That the Aquarii certainly transgressed our
Saviour's institution, because they offered water only in the
eucharist ; whereas there is not the least mention made of water
in the institution, or of any tiling as contained in the cup hut
wine only. But he, contrary to our modern notions of this
phraseology, infers a mixture from these words, saying, Here ice
find that the cup which our Lord offered wax tttUtfU, and that
it was wine which he called his Hood* But where or how do
we find this to have been a mixed cup in any words cited bv
this father, but in those words fruit of the vine? for there are no
other words in the text which informs us what was in the cup.
And yet he says expressly, that from hence we learn that the cup
was mixed. A sure evidence that by those words the ancients
did not understand pure wine, but a mixture : for if they had
understood pure wine by the words fruit of the vine, and not a
mixture, St. Cyprian must have exposed himself to the laughter
and scorn of all his contemporaries, to pretend to find a mixture
so clearly expressed in words that implied no such thing, if we
would hearken to some of our modern interpreters, who pretend
to understand the language of the ancients better than the ancients
themselves. Indeed St. Cyprian does immediately add, that it
was wine he called his blood : but by taking the whole passage
together, it is evident he meant mixed, and not pure wine : so
he goes on, and argues farther : — " From hence it appears that
the blood of Christ is not offered if there be no wine in the cup,
nor is the Lord's sacrifice celebrated with a lawful consecration,
unless our oblation and sacrifice answer to the passion. But how
shall we drink new wine of the fruit of the vine with Christ in
the Kingdom of the Father, if we do not offer wine in the sacri
fice of God Uie Father, and of Christ, nor mix the cup of the
Lord according to the Lord's tradition."f Then again reciting

pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum. Dico vobis, non bibam a
raodo ex ista creatura vitis, usq ; in diem ilium, quo vobiscum bibam novum
vinum in regno Patris mei. Cypr. Epist. 63. ad Cecilium.

* Qua in parte invenimus calicem inixtum fuissc quern Dominus obtulit, &
vinum fuisse, quod sangninem suum dixit. Ibid.

f Unde apparet Sanguinem Christ! non oflerri, si desit Vinum Calici ; nee
sacrifieium Dominicum Icgitima sanctificatione celebrari, nisi oblatio & sacrifi-
cium nostrum respondent passioni. Quumodo autein de creatura vitis novum

'200 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

llic whole institution as set down by St. Paul, he adds, " But it'
it be both commanded by the Lord, and this same thing is also
confirmed and delivered by his Apostle, that as often as we drink
in remembrance of the Lord, we ought to do as the Lord did ;
we find that is not observed by us as the Lord commanded, unless
we also do those things which the Lord did, and in like manner
Wt.VtUCJ the cup of the Lord, we recede not from the divine com
mandment."* Thus he all along argues from the words of insti
tution, that the eucharistical cup ought to be mixed : he plainly
takes it for granted, that the words wine and fruit of 1lic vine
signify not pure wine, but a mixture, or wine diluted with water.
A sure argument, that in that age when the words wine or fruit
of the vine were used indefinitely, without any limitation, either
by some epithet, or the words set in opposition to or joined with
it, they always signified a. mixture; otherwise we must believe
St. Cyprian a weaker man than his greatest enemies can think
him to have been. It would have answered his purpose (which
was merely to refute those that offered only water in the eucha-
rist) full as well, or indeed better, to have interpreted these words
as the moderns do to signify pure wine ; for if our Saviour
offered pure wine, it is most certain they that offered only water
could not offer what he did : but if our Saviour offered water
together with wine, then it is certain they offered nothing but
what he did, only they did not offer all that he did. And to offer
a quite different element from that which Christ appointed, would
have been a more notorious violation of Christ's command, than
to leave out a part of the ingredients. But though this would
more fully have proved the Aquarii to have entirely departed from
Christ's institution, yet St. Cyprian did not urge it ; he does not
tell them that the evangelists take no notice of water in our Lord's
cup, and that it does not appear from them that there was any
thing besides pure wine in that cup, which our moderns would
certainly have done, but allows that they do testify there was a
mixture, which he would not have done if he had known it to be

vimun cum Christo in regno Patris bibemus, si in sacrificio Dei Patris & Christ!
vinum non offerimus, nee calico m Domini dominica traditione miscermis. Ibid.
* Quod si &, a Domino praecipitur, & ab Apostolo ejus hoc idem confirmatur
Sc tradituv, ut quotiescunq ; biberimus in commemoratione Domini, hoc faciamus
quod fecit & Domi nus ; invenimus non obsevvari a nobis quod mandatum est,
nisi eadem qua? Dominus fecit nos quoq ; faciamus, & Calicem Domini pari
ratione miscentes a divino magisterio non recedamus. Ibid.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. '201

customary to call a mixture by the name ofwitie, or i\ie fruit of
the vine. And that he thought this mixture to be necessary as
well with regard to the water as the wine, and that he did not
think any one of them sufficient without the other, appears from
his own words a little after. Thus in sanctifying the cup of the
Lord, water cannot be offered alone, as neither can tout? foe

offered alone**

Thus this very ancient father, who I am persuaded understood
the Scripture phraseology much better than we can do, as living
much nearer to the time when it was written, could find a mix
ture to be commanded and enjoined to us by our Saviour, in those
very words which the moderns suppose to command or enjoin no
such thing. St. Irenaeus also, who lived above fourscore years
before St. Cyprian, and was the scholar to St. Poly carp, the dis
ciple of St. John the apostle, speaking of our Saviour, says,
Taking bread, he declared it to be his body, and the tempera
ment of the cup to be his blood.\ And what he in this place
calls the temperament of the cup, he afterwards expressly calls
the mixed cup, saying, " When therefore the mixed cup and the
made bread receives the word of God, and is made the eucharist
of the blood and of the body of Christ."! And again he says,
" For these things also our Lord taught, when he promised his
disciples that he would drink the mixture of the cup new with
them in the kingdom." || Thus Irenoeus plainly testifies, that the
cup which our Saviour gave to his disciples when he instituted
the eucharist, and which he promised to drink again new with
them in his Kingdom, was a mixed cup. Now as Irenaeus was
the scholar of St. Polycarp, and St. Polycarp the disciple of St.
John, who leaned on our Saviour's bosom at his last supper, it is
evident that Irenaeus received this tradition concerning the mixed
cup but at second hand from St. John, who saw and knew what
was contained in that cup, which our Saviour himself blessed

* Sic autcm in sanctificando calice Domini offerri aqua sola mm polest,
qnomodo nee vinum soluni potest. Ibid.

f Accipiens Pauem, suum Corpus esse confitcbatur, et teiuperamentum calicis
suuin sanguineiu confirmavit. Ircn. adv. Haer. Lib. iv. cap. 57.

J OTTOTC xv KCU TO K€Kpa/.i£.isoi> iroTi'ipiov,* KO.I 6 ytyovus apros eViS^erat rov \6yov
78 ©eg /cat yivercu // ivxaptria ai/j-aros /cat ffM^aros Xpi<?&. Iren. adv. Ilajr. Lib.
v. cap. 2.

|| Hasc euim et Dominus docuit, mixtionem calicis uovam in regno cum disci-
pulis habiturtim se pollicitus. Ircn. adv. Hcer. Lib. v. cap. 36.
2 D

20*2 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

and gave to his disciples: and what the Evangelists tell us,
that our Saviour (who spake the Jewish language, and according
to the Jewish phraseology) called the fruit of the vine, that he
calls the mixed cup : there is no question to be made but that he
learned to call it so from his master Polycarp, who learned it
from St. John and other Apostles with whom he conversed:
consequently that the Apostles themselves taught their disciples,
whom they instructed, that the cup our Saviour blessed, and
which he commanded them to bless as he had done, was not pure,
but mixed wine. Therefore, if we had no elder testimony for
the mixed cup than this of Ireneeus, yet considering that he was
educated under a disciple of the Apostles, I should think it old
enough to satisfy us that the mixture of the cup is an Apostolical
Tradition. However, we have somewhat an elder testimony, and
that is Justin Martyr, who wrote about twenty years before
Irenseus, who in giving the emperors an account of the Christian
sacrifice, says, " That bread and a cup of water and mixture is
offered to him that presides over the brethren."* Then having
spoken of their being blessed by a long prayer of thanksgiving, of
which I have already largely treated, he says, " That the deacons
distribute to every one present, that he may partake of that bread
and wine and water, which has been blessed by thanksgiving." f
But a learned gentleman, who seems to me in this and some other
cases to be like a drowning man that catches at every straw, and
holds it fast, lays hold on the word Kpo/.m, mixture, as if it
rendered this passage of Justin unintelligible: his words are,
" What Justin Martyr meant by his Kpa^a, or mixture, is not
easy to determine. That this word frequently (I believe he might
have said always, when it is applied to a mixture of liquids in a
cup) denotes a composition of wine and water, no one that I
know of will pretend to deny ; I am sure I will not. But how
it can signify so in this place, where the father speaks of a
mixture before the water was put to it, will be somewhat hard to
show."J The consequence of which is, that the word Kpa/za?
mixture, being not easy (as he supposes) to be understood in this

**EiretTa Trpoafpeperai T<I) Trpoe^uri T&V a8eA.</>&>i/ cipros KCU iroripov vSaros /cat
Kpa^aros Apol. i. p. 85.

f AtaKovoi di86affiv e/ca<ra> r&v KapbvrMv fceraAaCetj/ CCTTO TS evxc-pi^Q^ros ciprs
/cai o'ivs Ktti vfiaros. Ibid.

+ No Reason, &c., p. 4.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 203

place, the passage of Justin will prove nothing, since it is not
clear. But forasmuch as what Justin calls in this place, Trorrjpiov
vSaros KCIL KpdparoG, a cup of water and mixture ', he immediately
after calls oivv KCLL O^aroc, wine and water , we cannot be at a loss
to understand his meaning. But the reason of my producing this
passage of Justin Martyr, was not to refute the criticism of this
learned gentleman, who is disposed to make Justin unintelligible
in this place, in order to overthrow the authority of this testi
mony,* for that I had done before; but to shew how agreeable
Justin's account of this matter is to the Clementine Liturgy now
under consideration, and to the other Liturgies, which in reciting
the words of institution assert, that our Saviour himself mixed the
cup which he gave to his disciples, and put water into it. So
that although the paschal cup which he consecrated and gave
them, was Kpdpa, or a mixed cup before, yet he put water again
into it, to shew that the water was not added merely to dilute the
wine and make it palatable, but as an essential ingredient which
ought never to be omitted. So this most ancient father, who was
contemporary to the immediate disciples of the Apostles, teaches
us, that although the wine which was brought to the bishop or
priest, was already Kpa>ci, or diluted with water, and made
palatable, yet water was also brought with it, that it might be
openly put into it by the priest as a necessary ingredient. And
the word Kpa^a, mixture, in this passage, is a clear evidence,
that the water in the days of this father, and consequently of the
Apostles, was not put into the wine because the wine in those
hot countries was too strong to drink without it, but as an clement
necessarily to be offered with the wine on this occasion ; and is a
good evidence that the tradition delivered in the Clementine
Liturgy, concerning Christ's putting water to the wine, was a
tradition as old as Justin's days, and consequently apostolical.
Since it is so evident from this father, that the priest did receive
water to be put even into such wine as had been mixed before ;
and Justin after tells us, that this is agreeable to what the
Apostles had taught and what Christ had commanded: this
passage therefore in the Clementine Liturgy concerning our
Saviour's mixing the cup with wine and water, though the
paschal cup had been before diluted, being so very agreeable to

* Postscript to the Necessary Use of Tradition, p. 17(5,

'204 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Justin Martyr's Trorrjpiov vcaroe KUI Kpdfj.aTOQ, witter and mixture ;
1 can by no means think this an interpolation in this Liturgy,
foisted in after the Council of Nice, but at least as old as Justin's
time, that is, within fifty years of the death of St. John, whilst
St. Polycarp and other bishops, disciples of the Apostles, were
still living, who I cannot persuade myself would be guilty of
innovating in such a point as this, or acting contrary to any
practice taught them by the Apostles. However, as the Evange
lists have testified nothing concerning the putting water into the
cup which was already mixed, 1 shall draw no other consequence
from this argument, than that this was a tradition as old as
Justin's days, and therefore no evidence that the Clementine
Liturgy, or the other Liturgies, which testify Christ himself to
have mixed the cup, have been interpolated as to this particular
since that time. It is sufficient for us that the paschal cup was
a mixed cup; that the Evangelists testify that to be the cup
which our Saviour gave to his disciples : that the Jews, who were
best acquainted with the composition of the paschal cup, tell us
in the Mishna, that it was wine and water, and that they called
it the fruit of the vine ; which is the word spoken by our Savi
our, who spake the Jews' language. Now that our Saviour, not
only used the Jews' language, but llioiv idiom or way of speaking
when he instituted the holy eucharist, is evident from the words,
This ift my body, which if they are not understood according to
the Jewish idiom or phraseology, necessarily imply the doctrine
of transubstantiation. But as Doctor Comber observes upon
those words on which the Romanists found that doctrine, " That
our Lord did herein (as in other things) imitate that phrase which
the Jews used at the feast of the passover, 2Ti)tS is the bread of
affliction, which our fathers did eat, fyc., and, &ljtS is the body
of the Paschal Lamb, which our fathers did cat, $c., (as the
'Talmud Tract de Pasch.' declares. For as that was not the
very bread, nor the very Lamb, yet they called it so, because it
did represent and continue the memorial of that, and was used to
the same purpose : so in like manner, he calls this his own body,
who was the true Paschal Lamb, because this action doth signify
and remember it, and by this bread we are partakers thereof. J
Thus if we understand our Saviour to have spoken according to
the Jewish manner of speaking, we keep clear enough from
transubstantiation; but if we will understand the words literally,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 205

and according as they sound to a vulgar ear, without any regard
to the Jewish phrase or most ancient tradition of the Christian
Church, as the learned author of the "No Reason" would have
us do, I see not but we must admit the doctrine of transubstan-
tiation. For to say it is an absurd doctrine, and contrary to
sense and reason, cannot be of weight, if it appear plainly that
Christ has taught it. And I conceive he has plainly taught it,
if the words be not understood according to the idiom of the Jews
already mentioned. And, if he is to be understood according to
this idiom when he says, This is my body, This is my bloody as I
verily believe he is, and I suppose no Protestant will deny it ;
why should he be supposed to have changed his idiom of speech
when he says, This fruit of the vine ? Why should he not,
according to the Jewish signification of these words, be under
stood to mean thereby a cup of wine mixed with water;
especially when the most ancient Christian bishops, as I have
shewed from St. Cyprian and St. Irenams, understood him to
mean so ? Therefore I wish that those who will not have us
interpret Scripture according to the Jewish forms of speech, or
pay any regard to the concurrent interpretation of the most
ancient fathers, agreeable to the constant tradition of the whole
Church, but will have us expound every phrase according to
what appears to us (who live in a country and in an age very
distant from the pen-men of the Scripture) to be the plain literal
sense of them, would consider what advantage they give to the
Romanists as to the point of transubstantiation, and to the other
professed enemies of the Church of England in a great many
other points. And if we do interpret the words fruit of the vine
according to the Jewish manner of speaking, particularly when
applied to the paschal cup? of a cup of wine mixed with water,
as the text in St. Luke plainly teaches us that our Saviour
applied it, and the whole Church understood it to do for fifteen
hundred years, as appears from the testimony of the ancient
fathers, and the universal practice of the Church for so long time,
then have we a Scripture precept in the words of institution ; and
the objection that water is not necessary, because not particularly
mentioned in Scripture, falls to the ground : because the paschal
cup denoted by those words, was a mixed cup, as is taught both
by Jews and Christians in all places and in all times.

206 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

§ 17. Immediately before, and immediately after the words of
institution, there is, in the Clementine Liturgy, a thankful remem
brance of Christ's death. Before the words of institution it says,
We therefore remembering those things which he suffered for
our sakes, give thanks unto thee, O God Almighty, not so as we
ought, but so as we are able, and fulfil his institution ; who in
the same night that he was betrayed, 8$c., and immediately after
the words of institution it proceeds with this thanksgiving,
saying, Wherefore having in remembrance his passion, death,
fyc., but having just treated largely on this head, I shall not
repeat again, but proceed to the oblation, which, as well as the
words of institution, accompanies and is included in this thanks
giving form, that so the whole may be one continued eucharistical
sacrifice. Here then it says, We offer to thee, our King and
our God, according to his holy institution, this bread and this
cup ; giving thanks* to thee through him, that thou hast vouch
safed us the honour to stand before thee, and to sacrifice unto
thee. And herein also all the Liturgies agree with this. Thus
the Liturgy of St. James says immediately after the thanksgiving,
for Christ's death, resurrection, &c., We sinners offer to thee, O
Lord, this tremendous and unbloody sacrifice. St. Mark's
Liturgy, Of thine own gifts have we laid thine own before thee,
O Lord our God. St. Chrysostom's Liturgy, We offer to thee
thine own of thine oivn, through all and in all. We praise
thee, we bless thee, we give thanks to thee, O Lord, and beseech
thee, O our God. We offer to thee this reasonable and un
bloody service. St. Basil's Liturgy has the very same words with
those before-going of St. Chrysostom, and a little after adds these,
Most holy Lord, we approach thine altar, laying before thee the
antitypes of the holy body and blood of thy Christ. St. Basil's
Liturgy, as used at Alexandria, makes also the oblation with the
same words which are used in St. Chrysostom's. The Ethiopic
Liturgy uses near the same words with the Clementine, saying,
" We offer to thee this bread and this cup, giving thanks to thee,
that through them thou hast made us worthy to stand before thee,
and perform this priestly ministry unto thee." The Liturgy of
Nestorius says, " We offer to thee this living, holy, acceptable?
excellent, and unbloody sacrifice." The Liturgy of Severus says,
" Therefore offering this unbloody sacrifice, O Lord Jesus." The

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 207

Roman Missal has it, " We offer to thy most excellent Majesty,
of thine own gifts and presents, this pure sacrifice, this holy
sacrifice, this unspotted sacrifice, this bread of eternal life, this
cup of everlasting salvation." And the first Liturgy of king-
Edward VI. has it thus, " We thy humble servants do celebrate^
and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy
gifts, the memorial which thy Son hath willed us to make."

Bishop Hickes in his "Christian Priesthood Asserted," and
Mr. Johnson in his " Unbloody Sacrifice," have very fully proved
the eucharist to be a proper sacrifice, and that to perform that
ministration rightly, the bread and wine ought to be presented
to God as other material gifts or oblations, of which the ancient
sacrifices consisted, were presented. I cannot pretend to add
any thing to what these very learned gentlemen have said upon
this head ; Mr. Johnson, who wrote the last, having exhausted
the subject, and also fully answered all the objections which have
been made against this doctrine of the eucharistical sacrifice by
Dr. Hancock, Dr. Turner, Dr. Wise, and other answers that
have been made to it, so effectually, as to put all his adversaries
to silence. Therefore I shall refer my reader to these two
excellent books for the full proof of this point, which when he
has read, I doubt not but he will be well satisfied, that such an
oblation as we find in all these Liturgies, is necessary and
required by the institution. I shall only, for the sake of those
who have not those learned and judicious books, give a brief
account of what those worthy gentlemen have more largely
proved, which I hope may not only satisfy them what it is they
have proved, but may also excite their curiosity to read the books
themselves, that they may receive a full conviction in a matter of
so great moment. * Bishop Hickes then proves that the Chris
tians have a material altar on which they are obliged to offer a
material gift, from Matt. v. 23, 24. " Ifthou bring thy gift unto
the altar, and there remembcrest that thy brother hath aught
against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy
way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and
offer thy gift. The original word gift, is a sacrificial term of a
general signification, and denotes a material sacrifice or offering
of any sort, and therefore it is to be taken here in that sense in

* Christian Priesthood Asserted, p. 42. 3rd. Edit.

208 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

which it is to be understood in Matt. viii. 4. Shew thyself 1o
the priest, and offer the gift or oblation that Moses commanded.
So in chap, xxiii. 18. Whosoever shall swear by the ait&V, it
is nothing ; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it,
he is guilty. In this sense of the word our Lord spake to the
Jews in their common language. But then it is to he observed
that those Jews were his disciples, and that this precept of
reconciliation was therefore intended by him for an ordinance of
the New Testament. And as the Primitive Church conceived
this precept of reconciliation to be intended for a gospel precept,
so they always applied it to the eucharist as the gospel sacrifice,
or oblation, not thinking (as Mr. Mede well observes) that our
Lord would make a new law ; or, let me add, inforce an old one
concerning legal sacrifices, which he was presently to abolish,
but that it had reference to that oblation which was to be insti
tuted by him for the gospel dispensation, and to continue with
and under it for ever." Then he shews that the book called the
"Apostolical Constitutions," St. Irenoeus, Tertullian, St. Cyprian,
Eusebius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerom, and
St. Augustin; all of them Ante-Nicene fathers, or contemporary
with the Council of Nice, or though living after it, yet within the
same century. And indeed I am persuaded, it was never other
wise interpreted by any Christian, till Calvin and his followers
took upon them to deny the eucharist to be a real sacrifice, and
maintained it to be but a metaphorical one. And then because
this text stared them in the face, and shewed that the Christian
Church was designed by our Saviour to have a material gift, and
a material altar, they would have it relate only to the Jewish
altar and temple, because they were not destroyed when our
Saviour gave this precept. So that according to them, the
precept concerning the gift and the altar was not intended for
the observation of Christians. But the Christian Church for
1500 years never understood it so, and the faithful always brought
their gifts to the Christian altars, out of which the oblation of
bread and wine was always taken and made, as we learn from
the Liturgies of the Church. The next proof which this learned
bishop has brought from the Scripture * for the eucharisticcd
oblation of the bread and wine, is taken from the words of the

* Ibid, p. 53.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 209

institution, recited by the apostle in these words, "The Lord
Jesus in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread, and
when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat, this
is my body, which is broken for you : this SJd in remembrance of
me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had
supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood :
this Ud ££, as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me." Then
he proves from the testimonies of St. Cyprian, and the Apostolical
Constitutions, and St. Irenseus, that the Primitive Church under
stood the words of institution to be a command to us to offer the
bread and wine as an oblation to God. And also proves both
from sacred and profane authors, that the word IIOIEIN, which
is translated Bfl, in our bibles signifies also to offer, and gives
several instances of its being so used in the Old Testament.
From hence he argues thus: " According to this sacrificial
signification of the verb TTOUIV, facere, and in particular from the
signification of it, to offer, in the paschal sacrifice, we may justly
observe, that the words r«ro Troieire, hoc facile, either relate to the
whole action and ministration of the holy eucharist, as ^in in the
Hebrew, and TUTO in the Greek, relate to the whole service of the
Passover, Exod. xii. 27. and then it proves the celebration of the
Lord's Supper, (in which the oblation of the bread and cup to
God the Father was a principal part) to be lepoTroua or iepupyla, a
sacrificial service : or else they relate more especially to the bread
and wine ; and then by a natural and easy interpretation they
may be translated thus : Take, eat, this is my body, offer this in
remembrance of me : and, This is my blood, offer this as oft as
ye drink it in remembrance of me. Either of these senses of
TUTO Troietre, hoc facite, gives us a good account of the reason, why
the ancient fathers treating of this mystery, affirm it to be the
oblation of the Church, which Christ appointed to be offered,
as I have already shewed. The next places of the New Testa
ment, from which I shall prove that the Christian religion hath
a sacrifice, are those which imply or express that it hath an altar.
For if it hath a sacrifice or oblation, as I have shewed, then it
must have an altar at which to offer that oblation ; and if it have
an altar, as I am going to shew, then it must have an oblation to
be offered at, or upon it, and then by consequence the gospel
ministers must be altar-ministers, as well as offering-priests. I
will begin with that text 1 Cor. ix. Do ye not know that they,
2 E

910 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

who minister about holy things, live of the things of the temple,
and they who wait at the altar are partakers with the altar ?"*
Then he proves from St. Irenaeus and St. Cyprian, that these
words may be very justly applied to the Christian priests, who
wait at the altar as well as the Jewish priests did, and shews
that these fathers have so applied them. The next place he
produces is Heh. xiii. 10. "We have an altar, of which they
have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle." The very word
we, set in opposition to they, shews that this must be a Christian
altar. "But," says the bishop, "perhaps, sir, your late writer
will say, the apostle doth not mean a proper material altar upon
which offerings were made, and then eaten, but an improper
metaphorical altar, by way of allusion and similitude ; and so,
sir, if he pleases he may say, the apostle meant only an improper
metaphorical High Priest, when he says in the same epistle, We
have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, %c.
The phrase is the same, «x°/LlfV $v<rta*tipiov9 We have an altar,
and typiJLtv apxiepea, We have an High Priest. And since the
High Priest we have is a more proper High Priest than the
Jewish High Priest, who was but his shadow, it would be very
arbitrary in him to assert that the altar we are said to have is
not a proper altar, especially considering that the Jerusalem allar
is several times called the table of the Lord, in Malachi i. 7. 12.
and Ezekiel xli. 22. xliv. 16. as the offerings upon it are called
his food, which he consumed by fire. Levit. iii. 11. 16. And
that the altar we are said to have is such an altar, of which, that
is of the sacrifices of which, neither the priests who were minis
ters of the tabernacle, nor the people, had any right to eat, but
the Christian ministers and people have ; the apostle proves by
an argument taken from their own law. For if they could not
eat of the sacrifices of atonement and expiation, which prefigured
the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, how could they partake at
the Christian altar of the Christian sacrifice, which was the
mystical flesh and blood of Christ, by which the sacrifice of him
self upon the cross was represented by his own institution under
the new Law, as it was under the old by the sacrifices of expia
tion, whose bodies were burnt without the camp ? ' We have an
altar,' saith he, 'that is, an altar-sacrifice, whereof they have no

* Ibid, p. 67.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 211

right to eat who serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those
beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the High
Priest for sin, are burnt without the camp ; wherefore Jesus also,
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered
without the city gate; and his suffering there signifies the exclu
sion of all legal eaters from partaking of him, who as a sin
offering was carried without the camp.' Here is altar answering
to altar, and sacrifice to sacrifice ; the sacrifice, which was a
figure of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross before his suffering, to
that which is the figure of it after."* Then he proves this to be
the genuine interpretation of this place from several passages of
the fathers. Then he proceeds, and says, " Having shewed from
one place of the New Testament, that the ministers of Christ are
proper altar ministers, because they minister at a proper altar, I
now proceed to shew from another place, 1 Cor. x. 20, 21. that
they offer sacrifice, and by consequence that they are proper
offering or sacrificing priests. These are the words: 'But the
things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and
not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with
devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of
devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table
of devils.' For the devils had their tables for their sacrificial
feasts, as well as the true God.— The whole parallel between
eating and drinking at the table of the Lord and the table of
devils, supposes that the Christians eat and drank of things
which had been offered to the Lord.— Hence, as 1 have shewed,
and shall shew again, in (he time of the Apostles, the bread and
wine in holy eucharist came to be called Ztipa and irpov^pai, gift*
and offerings.— I say, according to this parallel of the apostle
between the communion with the true God, and that of devils,
bread and wine in the holy eucharist were called gifts and offer
ings, and the ministers of the gospel, offerers and sacrificcrs in
the age of the Apostles, as appears from two or three passages in
St. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, who was fellow-labourer
with the Apostles, and understood their meaning. Saith he, cap.
xl. ' Seeing then these things are very evident, it is our duty,
who have looked into the depths of divine knowledge, to do all
things in order, whatsoever our Lord hath commanded us to do :

* I hid, pp. 70, 71.

212 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

especially that we perform our offerings and ministrations to God
at the times appointed for them. For these he hath commanded
to be done not unseasonably, and disorderly, but at certain
appointed times and hours. Wherefore he hath ordained by his
sovereign authority, both where and by whom they are to be per
formed, that so all things being done without fault, to all well-
pleasing, they may be acceptable to his will. They therefore
who make their offerings at the appointed seasons, are blessed
and accepted; for being obedient to the orders of the Lord,
they offend not.' So chap. xliv. saith he, 'It would be an
heinous sin in us, if we should cast out those from their episcopal
charge, who without blame or default offer up the holy gifts.7
And therefore since St. Clement not only calls the holy eucharist
an offering, but the ministers of it offerers of the holy gifts,
which is a proper sacrificial phrase, it must needs follow, that
the Lord's table hath its proper sacrifice or oblation, of which
the faithful Christians are partakers. — From this I proceed to
another place of the New Testament, Rom. xv. 15, 16. where
alluding to the ministration of the Christian sacrifice, in which,
at the oblation of the bread and wine, the priest, as I shall shew,
prayed unto God to send down his Holy Spirit upon them, he.
says, ' Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly to
you in some sort, as putting you in mind of the grace that is
given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ
to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering
up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the
Holy Ghost.' The words in the original for the offering up of
the Gentiles are Trpovtyopa rwv tbv&v, the offering of the Gentiles,
as the eucharist is called by Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with
Trypho, in these words, p. 260. * But as to the sacrifice offered
up by us Gentiles in every place, that, is of the eucharistical
bread and cup, the prophet Malachi foretold it in this place.'"*
Then he also proceeds to prove the same from the concurrent
testimonies of the most ancient fathers of the Church. Thus this
right Reverend Prelate has proved from divers texts of Scripture,
as they were understood by the fathers of the Church, that it is
necessary that the bread and wine in the eucharist be offered to
God. However, I have only transcribed the texts of Scripture,

* Ibid, p. 80.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 2 13

with his inferences from thence, excepting a passage or two of
St. Clement, whose Epistle is older than some books of the New
Testament, and this last passage of Justin Martyr, not only
because to have transcribed more would too much swell this
Dissertation, but because I would have those that require farther
satisfaction in this point to read the book itself. The very
worthy and learned Mr. Johnson, who has exhausted this subject,
and left nothing now to be said upon it, after having proved from
the unanimous testimony of the fathers, that Christ sacrificed in
the eucharist, proceeds to prove the same from the words of
institution, saying, " We have the express words of Christ Jesus
himself, recorded by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St.
Paul, fully attesting this great truth ; namely, that he did in the
institution of this sacrament, actually offer bread and wine to
God, as his mysterious body and blood ; and that he commanded
his Apostles to do the same. First, I will shew that these words,
This is my body given for you, This is my blood shed for you,
do prove that Christ gave or offered the bread and wine to God
as his mysterious body and blood : and, secondly, that he com
manded his Apostles to do the same. Now, in order to prove the
first point, I take it for granted, that when our Saviour says,
This is my body given, by given, he means offered or sacrificed
to God : this is a thing very plain in itself, and is, nay must be
acknowledged by all, when he said, Take, eat, he gave his sacra
mental body to his disciples : when he adds, given for you, he
must mean given, or offered in sacrifice to God for them. The
giving his body to the Apostles, and giving it for them, are two
things perfectly distinct: his putting it into their hands or
mouths, was not giving his body for them ; this was an action
performed to the Apostles : his giving, or offering, for them, was
an action directed to God ; which as it is very plain in itself, so
is expressly taught us by St Paul ; for Christ, says he, has given
himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. Eph. v. 2.
And if we duly consider this particular, which can be denied by
none, that do not want common sense and judgment, the rest
inevitably follows. I take it for certain, and indisputable, that
the body here spoken of, was now actually given, yielded,
offered to God by our Saviour, as a priest according to the order
of Melchisedech. The three Evangelists before mentioned, and
St. Paul, do every one of them speak in the present tense,

014 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Luke xxii. 19. K-XW^VOI/, 1 Cor. xi. 24. i*yyv^VQV-> Matt xxvi-
28. Mark xiv. 24. Luke xxii. 20. The Spirit by which they
wrote, directed them all, with an unanimous harmony, to repre
sent our Saviour as now performing the most solemn act of his
Melchisedechian priesthood, and therefore as offering his body
and blood to God, under the symbols of bread and wine. It is
well known to all that are not perfect strangers to the Hebrew
or Hellenistic diction, that the strongest and most strict way they
have of expressing the time present, is by a participle of the
present tense: this way of expressing himself our Saviour uses,
and all the four holy writers, that give us the history of the
institution, do agree 'in using this present participle ; and do
1 therefore most gloriously conspire to teach us this truth, that our
Saviour did now actually offer himself to God under the repre
sentatives of bread broken, and wine poured out. The rankest
Deist, I apprehend, will scarce be able to persuade himself, that
four writers should all by mere chance, in describing the same
action, use the same tense, and yet use it in the stead of another
tense ; that they should all speak of the same thing as done in
the present instant of time, and yet mean that it was to be done
some considerable time after. What then can we think of those
Christians who can believe, that these holy penmen were all
moved by the Holy Ghost to speak improperly concerning an
action of the greatest moment ; and particularly to say that it
was done now at this instant moment of time; when yet they
believed, and knew, that it was yet to be done ; that twenty
hours were to pass before it was to be completed ? If indeed
one or two of these inspired writers had represented our Saviour
* as speaking in the present tense, and the others had expressed it
in the future, our adversaries might have had some umbrage for
saying, that the two former were to be interpreted by the two
latter;' but that they had no regard to grammatical niceties; nor
are we to hold any thing upon such uncertain bottoms. But
when every one of those holy penmen, who give us the minutes
of this action, which was one of the most considerable that ever
he did, and which is related by four of them, do all say that our
Saviour said, is given, is broken, is shed; I cannot think it
becomes modest men to pretend to correct these holy writers, as
if they knew the meaning of Christ's words better than they who
were present when they were spoken : it is therefore preposterous

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 215

to tell us, that by is we are to understand shall be. Nor have
our adversaries any pretence for giving so unnatural a sense to
these words : they tell you it is the present tense for the future ;
and if you ask upon what grounds this is said, they have nothing
to reply hut this; viz., that Christ's body was not in any sense
given or offered to God, till it was crucified, which is to take that
for granted, which my reader sees was denied by the ancient
fathers: nor does the Scripture give any countenance to our
adversaries, while they would persuade us that Christ's oblation
was performed on the cross only. The four histories of the » '
institution plainly declare, that Christ's body was given or sacri- \ '
ficed in the eucharist; nor is there one word in all the New
Testament that can be urged in contradiction to it. Christ is /
often said to have given himself for us ; but that by this phrase
is meant nothing but his dying for us upon the cross, we are no
where told ; and since he himself has informed us, that in the
eucharist his body was given, his blood was shed for us, we have
just reason to believe him. He is sometimes said to have borne
our sin; and that this was done upon the cross; that the
mactation was performed is not disputed. It is said that Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many, Ileb. ix. 28. And
that the oblation was but one, is a most certain apostolical truth;
and yet they who link this one oblation to the six hours time,
during which he hung upon the cross, are destitute of any proof
from Scripture. That the sacrifice was not finished till our
Saviour expired on the cro-s, nay, till he entered into the holy of
holies, even heaven itself, is evident enough ; nor is it less
evident, that he began this sacrificial solemnity by offering his
own body and blood when he instituted the eucharist. Christ
indeed bore the punishment of our sin in his own natural body
on the tree, 1 Pet. ii. 24. But when St. Paul, as above cited,
says, He was offered to bear the sins of many, it is manifest that
there was an oblation previous to the sufferings or bearing there
mentioned ; as when the apostle says in the 26th verse of that
chapter, that Christ appeared once to put away sin, his appear
ing was before his putting away. So when he says here, that he
was once offered to bear, he must in some flense offer himself
before he could be capable of bearing ; and it is evident that his
crucifixion was a consequence of his offering himself; and this
is the full of what St. Paul says, Heb. ix. 25, 26. that Christ

•216 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

was not often to offer himself, for then he must often have
suffered; he offered himself but once, and therefore suffered but
once. He began his oblation in the eucharist, and continued it
on the cross. Nothing but his death could be a satisfaction for
our sins ; and this was actually accomplished on the cross : apd
this death of his was never to be repeated ; it was the effect of
his personal oblation of himself, which he began in the eucharist;
and since he was but once to offer, he was but once to die. — Let
the Papists then go on with their dabitur and effundetnr, shall
be given, shall be shed ; and it fits their notion well enough, who
believe that the same body and blood was substantially offered in
the eucharist, and on the cross ; but let Protestants stick close to
the Primitive Church, and to the Evangelists, and to Christ
Jesus himself; who undoubtedly declared, that in that very
instant of time in which he celebrated the original eucharist, he
did at once offer, or give to God bread and wine, and gave them
as a pledge of the natural body and blood, which was soon after
yielded to God on the cross. But to make this matter more clear
if possible, I will propose two questions : first, What is it which
Christ here calls his body and blood ? And here all antiquity and
the greatest part of Protestants, but especially the Church of
England, give in their unanimous answer, that it is consecrated
bread and wine. The other question is, What is that, of which
Christ here says, that it is given or offered to God ? and yet it
seems strange to me that this should be a question with those,
who believe that Christ here calls bread his body, wine his
blood ; for certainly if this bread, of which our Saviour speaks,
is his body, then this bread is also given to God, if our Saviour
speak according to the common rules of construction ; for the
bread and the body of Christ are here the same thing : for no
other body of Christ could be eaten, no other body of Christ had
yet been substantially offered to God. The argument used by
Protestants, that what Christ gave to his Apostles, and what
they received was bread, runs thus: What he took, that he
blessed ; what he blessed, that he brake ; what he brake, that he
gave ; what he gave, that they received ; therefore what they
received was bread, for that was what he took. But there are
some words omitted in this induction, viz. My body given for
yon ; and therefore I must take leave to add, what he gave, was
his body ; what was his body, was given for them ; what was

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 217

given for them, was given to them ; what was given to them, they
received ; therefore what they received was bread, actually offered
to God as his sacramental body : and this is to be applied to the
wine, mutatis mutandis. And indeed St. Luke so expresses our
Saviour's words at the delivery of the cup, ih&t poured out cannot
be understood to belong to the natural blood of Christ, but to the
representative blood, or the wine : this cannot be perceived by
reading our translation ; but the words grammatically rendered
are these : This cup poured out for you, (or offered as a libation
to God for you) is the New Testament, or covenant in my blood ;
for EK^uvop-evov being a nominative, cannot agree with cu/icm,
which is in the dative ; but our adversaries will rather make St.
Luke guilty of a solecism, than allow that he could speak so
decisively against their notions : for this is their way of dealing
with the holy writers on this occasion. — Thus the reader may
see, that the main stress of the dispute lies in effect in this single
question, Whether our Saviour did offer his body and blood in the
eucharist? To which our Saviour's express answer is, This
bread is my body now given for you : this wine is my blood
now shed for you. Our adversaries, to shift off' this, tell us, our
Saviour used one tense, but meant another ; he said is given, he
meant shall be given ; and further, they will not allow the word
given to be applied to his sacramental body ; though every word
in the sentence, excepting that, is by them acknowledged to
belong to that body. Now this is perfectly precarious and
evasive ; and because our adversaries will not be convinced witli
the most plain, natural, obvious construction of the words, we
have no means left us, but to refer our cause to the arbitration of
the most complete, disinterested and uncorrupted judges, the
Primitive Fathers and Councils, and the earliest Liturgies that
are now in being ; and they do unanimously, whenever they have
occasion to speak of this matter, pronounce in favour of us ; and
1 am bold to say, that none of them ever said the contrary.
Secondly, whatever Christ did himself, the same he commanded
us to do : if therefore he offered his own sacramental body and
blood in the eucharist, he has positively commanded us to do the
same ; and we are without excuse, if we do wilfully and design
edly omit it."* Thus has this learned divine of the Church of

* Unbloody Sacrifice, vol. i, p. 82. &c.
2 F

218 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

England proved, 1 think, to demonstration, from the very words
of institution as related by every one of the inspired writers that
has given us an account of it, that Christ offered bread and
wine in the holy eucharist as his sacramental body and blood,
and consequently that we are obliged to do so also. And those
who will consult his two excellent books on this subject, called,
"The Unbloody Sacrifice and Altar Unveiled and Supported,"
will find many other arguments to prove this necessary doctrine,
and also full and complete answers to all the objections, evasions^
or subterfuges of its adversaries. And whereas he says, that we
are without excuse, if we do wilfully and designedly omit it,
that is, we can by no means excuse ourselves, if, when we
pretend to celebrate the holy eucharist, we do not make an
oblation of the bread and wine as the sacramental body and
blood of Christ, I wish he could have shewed us where the
Church of England has appointed such an oblation of the sacra
mental body and blood of Christ as he speaks of, such as Christ
instituted, such as the Primitive Church practised, and such as
we are commanded to do according to the natural sense of
the words of institution, or that she has not wilfully and design
edly omitted it. That it is omitted in the communion office of
the Church of England, is evident to all that are acquainted with
that Liturgy ; and that it was not casually but wilfully left out
there, is no less evident, because not only in the Roman Canon,
the form used here before the Reformation, but also in the first
reformed Liturgy of king Edward VI. there was such an oblation
immediately following the words of institution, as in all the
ancient Liturgies of the Christian Church. The Roman canon
says, We offer to thy excellent Majesty of thine own gifts.
The first Liturgy of king Edward says, We thy humble servants
do celebrate, and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with
these thy holy gifts, the memorial which thy Son hath willed us
to make. — Entirely desiring thy fatherly goodness mercifully
to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. But in
the second Liturgy of king Edward, and ever since, this prayer
(that is, what the second Reformers thought fit to leave of it) has
been removed to the post communion, that it might not be used
till after the elements were distributed and consumed : and the
words do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty,
with these thy holy gifts, the memorial which thy Son hath

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 219

willeth us to make, which are plain, oblatory, and sacrificial
words, which can be referred only to the bread and wine lying on
the altar, are entirely left out. The other words indeed, viz., to
accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, which as
they stood in the first reformed Liturgy, were also applicable to
the bread and wine,* which, as Mr. Johnson has proved, were
always called in the language of the Primitive Church by that
name. But as they are now placed in the post communion, can
by no means be applied to the material elements. For it is
absurd to pretend that we may offer to God that which is not, or
present to him that which we have eaten and consumed. Now
I cannot suppose that those who made this second reformation of
the Liturgy, could casually and inadvertently entirely blot out
those words do celebrate and make, fyc. or that they could
remove the remaining part of that prayer from before the distri
bution and consumption of the elements, and order it to be used
afterwards, without considering what they did. This omission
and transposition could not be made otherwise than with design.
Consequently, the Church of England has wilfully and design
edly omitted to make the oblation of the sacramental body and
blood of Christ, which he himself made and commanded us to
make, and therefore, according to what Mr. Johnson says, she is
without excuse as to this matter. However, Mr. Johnson him
self has made no such inference, nor ought any one to charge
him with laying such an imputation on the Church of England.
It is possible, he might not consider how heavy the censure he
bestows on those that wilfully or designedly omit the oblation,
falls on his own Church, and leaves it without excuse. Yet 1
cannot but think it a very plain consequence of this doctrine.
But whether Mr. Johnson saw it must have this consequence or
not, is none of my business to enquire : for sometimes we do not
see that which is most obvious. But when we have framed the
premises, consequences will follow which sometimes we are not
aware of. But whatever this worthy and learned gentleman's
opinion may be with regard to the Church of England, and
whether he thinks she may be excused or not in this point, it is
certain, some of her own fathers have thought her wilful and
designed omission of the oblation, would not justify their omitting

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part i. p. *26'2, &c.

220 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

it. Thus bishop Hickes* acquaints us, that Dr. Overall, some
time the right reverend bishop of Norwich, always used, imme
diately after the words of institution, the prayer which stands in
the post communion, and so offered the sacred elements with
those words, Accept our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
" Using," as bishop Hickes' s author says, " this oblation in its
right place, when he had consecrated the sacrament, to make an
oblation of it (as being the true public sacrifice of the Church)
unto God. — If men would consider the nature of this sacrament,
how it is the Christian sacrifice also, they could not choose but
use it so too : for as it stands here, it is out of its place." This
gentleman from whom bishop Hickes had his information con
cerning bishop Overall's practice, wasf also himself a presbyter
at least of the Church of England ; and when we read what he
has here said concerning that prelate, we cannot doubt of his
own practice in this point. What Archbishop Laud's own
practice was in this particular, I do not find; but it is certain
that the Scotch Common Prayer Book, which was compiled by
him, or at least under his direction, has not only this prayer put
into the old place where it stood in king Edward's first book, but
has likewise the other oblatory words restored which were omitted
in the second book, viz., " We thy humble servants do celebrate
and make here before thy Divine Majesty, writh these thy holy
gifts, the memorial which thy Son hath willed us to make."
Which shews that he by no means approved the omission and
transposition. Bishop Taylor, when he durst not use the Com
mon Prayer when it was abolished by an ordinance of Parliament
during the Rebellion, composed a form for his own use, where
presently after the words of institution, he has, as in the ancient
Liturgies, a prayer beginning with a thankful remembrance of
Christ's death, in which he makes the oblation in these words :
" We humbly present to thee, O Lord, this present sacrifice of
remembrance and thanksgiving." Bishop Hickes also declared
for and approved of bishop Overall's practice, and highly recom
mended and published the communion service of the first Liturgy
of king Edward VI. and the Scotch Liturgy ; and therefore I
cannot but persuade myself, that his practice was according to
it, though I cannot say it of my own knowledge. It is plain,

* Prefatory Discourse in Answer to the Rights, &.c. pp> 63, 64.
f Ibid, p. 45.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 221

that all these learned bishops saw and believed the want of the
oblation to be a very great defect in the Liturgy of the Church of
England, and as far as they were able endeavoured to supply it :
whether they thought it an essential defect, (as I do, and think
Mr. Johnson has proved it) I shall not pretend to say. But sure,
if it be but a very great defect, it ought to be corrected : and if it
is an essential one, it is of fatal consequence. And surely it is
essential, if it be what our Saviour did and commanded us to do,
as Mr. Johnson has proved it is, and the very words of institution
teach us; and the practice of the whole Church, from the Apos
tles days to the Reformation, has been agreeable thereto.

§ 18. Having thus offered the sacred elements, the bread and
the cup to God, then (according to the Clementine Liturgy) the
bishop or priest proceeds and says, " And we beseech thee, to
look favourably on these thy gifts, which are here set before thee,
O thou self-sufficient God; and do them accept them to the
honour of thy Christ, and send down thine Holy Spirit, the
witness of the passion of our Lord Jesus, upon this sacrifice, that
he may make this bread the body of thy Christ, and this cup the
blood of thy Christ ; that they who are partakers thereof, may be
confirmed in godliness, may obtain the remission of their sins,
may be delivered from the devil and his snares, may be replenished
with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of thy Christ, and
may obtain everlasting life ; thou, O Lord Almighty being recon
ciled to them." In like manner the Liturgy of St. James says,
" Have mercy upon us, O God the Almighty ; have mercy upon
us, O God our Saviour : have mercy upon us, O God, according
to thy great mercy, and send down upon us, and upon these gifts
which are here set before thee, thy most Holy Spirit ; even the
Lord and giver of life, who with thee, O God the Father, and
with thine only begotten Son, liveth and reigneth a consubstantial
and coeternal person, who spake by the law and by the Prophets
and by the New Testament, descended like a dove upon our Lord
Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, and rested upon him, and came
down in the likeness of fiery tongues upon thy Apostles when
they were assembled on the day of pentecost in the upper room of
holy and glorious Sion. Send down, O Lord, this thy most Holy
Spirit upon us, and upon these holy gifts here set before thee ;
that by his holy, good, and glorious presence, he may sanctify

•22*2 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

and make this bread the holy body of thy Christ, and this cup
the precious blood of thy Christ; that all, who are partakers
thereof, may obtain remission of their sins, and eternal life ; may
be sanctified in soul and body, and bring forth the fruit of good
works ; for the confirmation of thy holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church, which thou hast founded upon the rock of faith, that the
gates of hell may not prevail against it; delivering it from all
heresy and scandal, and from the workers of iniquity, and pre
serving it to the consummation of the world." Thus also St.
Mark's Liturgy, " We pray and beseech thee, O thou gracious
lover of mankind, send down from thy high and glorious habita
tion, from thine infinite bosom, the very paraclete, the Spirit of
truth, the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who spake in
the law and in the Prophets, and in the Apostles ; who is every
where present, and filleth all things, and according to thy good
pleasure sanctifieth whom he \vill by his own power, and not
ministerially: uncompounded in his nature, diversified in his
operations, the fountain of divine graces, consubstantial to thee,
and proceeding from thee, sitting in the throne of thy kingdom,
together with thee, and thine only begotten Son our Lord and
God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Send upon us, and these loaves,
and these cups, this thy Holy Spirit, that he may sanctify and
perfect them, as being God Almighty. And may he make the
bread to be indeed the body, and the cup to be the blood of the
New Testament, of our very Lord and God, and Saviour, and
most great King, Jesus Christ; that they may be to us, and to all
that partake of them, for faith, for sobriety, for healing, for tem
perance, for sanctification, for the renewing of soul and body,
and spirit, for communication of the blessing of eternal life and
incorruption, for the glorifying of thy holy name, for the remission
of sins ; that in this as in all other things, thy most holy, precious,
and glorious name, may be glorified, praised, and sanctified, with
Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit." St. Chrysostom's Liturgy :
" We pray, beseech, and entreat thee, send thy Holy Spirit upon
us, and upon these gifts here lying before thee ; and make this
bread the precious body of thy Christ, and that which is in this
cup the precious blood of thy Christ, changing them by thy Holy
Spirit." St. Basil's Liturgy, as used in the Constantinopolitan
Church ; " Wherefore also, O most holy Lord, we sinners, and
thy unworthy servants, who are vouchsafed the honour to minister

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 2*23

at thy holy altar, not for our righteousness, (for we have done no
good thing upon earth,) but for thy mercies and compassions
which thou hast abundantly poured out upon us, we approach
thy holy altar, and setting before thee the antitypes of the holy
body and blood of thy Christ, we pray and beseech thee, O thou
Holy of holies, that through thy good pleasure thy Holy Spirit
may come upon us, and upon these gifts laid before thee, and
bless and sanctify and perfect them. Make this bread the pre
cious body of our Lord and God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, and
this cup the precious blood of our Lord and God, and Saviour
Jesus Christ, which was shed for the life of the world ; changing
them by thy Holy Spirit." The Liturgy of St. Basil, as used in
the Alexandrian Church : " We sinners, and thy unworthy ser
vants, pray and beseech thee, O gracious Lord, the lover of
mankind, and we worship thee, that through thy good pleasure
thy Holy Spirit may come upon us thy servants, and upon these
thy gifts here set before thee, and make them the Holy of holies ;
and make this bread to become the body of our Lord God, and
Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and eternal life to
those that partake of it ; and this cup the precious blood of the
New Testament of our Lord God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, for
the remission of sins, and eternal life to those that partake of it.'T
The Ethiopic Liturgy: " We pray and beseech thee, O Lord, to
send thy Holy Spirit and power upon this bread and upon this
cup, and may he make them the body and blood of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, for ever, Amen. And grant that they may
be to all that receive them, for sanctification and fulness of the
Holy Ghost, and strengthening of faith, that they may sanctify
thee, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with the Holy
Ghost, for ever, Amen." The Liturgy of Nestorius : " And, O
Lord, may the grace of thy Holy Spirit come and dwell and rest
upon this oblation which we offer before thee, and may he
sanctify it and make it, that is, this bread and this cup, the body
and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou changing them and
sanctifying them by the operation of the Holy Spirit ; that the
participation of these holy mysteries may be to all that receive
them, for eternal life, for resurrection from the dead, for expiation
of bodies and souls, for illustration of knowledge, for confidence
before thee, and for eternal salvation." The Liturgy of Severus :
" And send unto us from thy holy height thy Spirit the paraclete,

224 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the Lord, the giver of life, who spake in the law, in the Prophets,
and in the Apostles, who is every where present, and fills all
things ; who also by his own proper power worketh holiness in
those that are worthy. May he descend upon us, and upon these
oblations set before thee, and sanctify them, that this bread may
be made the life-giving body, the heavenly bod^, the body that is
salutary both to our souls and bodies, the body of our Lord God,
and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and eternal
life to those that partake of it. And may he make the mixture
that is in this cup the blood of the New Testament, the life-
giving blood, the salutary blood of the Lord God, and King of all,
Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and eternal life to those
that receive him." Thus all the Greek and Eastern Liturgies, as
well as the Clementine, have an invocation for the descent of the
Holy Ghost upon the elements, immediately following the oblation
and the words of institution, and so also had the Gallican, the
Gothic, and Mosarabic Liturgies, as appears from the fragments
still remaining and here published of those Liturgies. But the
Roman canon, contrary to all others, does not invocate the
descent of the Holy Ghost ; however it prays for God's particular
blessing upon the elements, and that he would make them the
body and blood of Christ, which is much to the same effect : for
to pray to God to bless the elements, and make them the body
and blood of his Son, is not materially different from praying for
the descent of the Holy Ghost for that purpose, since the spiritual
blessings of God are all conferred upon us by the operation of his
Holy Spirit. And the Roman Missal prays thus : <; Which
oblation we beseech thee, O God, that thou wilt vouchsafe to
make in all respects blessed, firm, valid, reasonable and accept
able, that it may be to us the body and blood of thy most dearly
beloved Son Jesus Christ." But the first Liturgy of king Edward
VI. has added the word Holy Spirit to this invocation, saying,
" And with thy Holy Spirit and word, vouchsafe to bless and
sanctify these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that
they may be unto us the body and blood of thy most dearly
beloved Son Jesus Christ."

But in this the Roman canon, and that English Liturgy which
was made from it, are singular and particular, in that they place
this invocation before the words of institution and the oblation of
the elements, which in all other Liturgies follows in the last place ;

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 225

which certainly is the most natural order, the Holy Spirit by his
descent completing and perfecting the consecration. It is cer
tainly most natural and agreeable to order, that we should first
perform our parts, place our gifts upon the altar, declare that we
do this in obedience to Christ's institution, make an oblation of
them to God, as what he has appointed to be the sacramental or
representative body of his Son, and then desire that the Holy
Ghost may come down upon them, to make them that body and
blood in power and effect, that by his gracious operation in them
and with them, they may convey to us all the blessings purchased
for us by Christ. But first to pray that the Holy Ghost may
bless and sanctify them, and then proceed to declare, that we are
doing what Christ instituted by a recital of the words of his insti
tution, and making the oblation with a thankful remembrance of
Christ's death, according to the form of the Roman canon, or the
first Liturgy of king Edward VI., framed agreeably to it, though
full in substance, does not seem so natural a situation : neither is
this order agreeable to the ancient forms ; the present Roman
canon being certainly of a later original than any of the other
Liturgies here published. That the invocation for the descent of
the Holy Spirit upon the elements, to make them the body and
blood of Christ, was the practice of the universal Church in all
places, is manifest from these Liturgies : that it was practised in
all times, * Mr, Johnson has proved from the testimony of the
most ancient fathers, to whom therefore I shall refer the reader
for full satisfaction as to what is said by the fathers on this occa
sion. I only think it proper to transcribe from him what he has
to say from scripture for this invocation. " Now," says he, " I
expect our adversaries should demand upon what authority of
scripture this doctrine of the ancients was grounded ; to which I
answer, That it seems evident that they thought, when our Savi
our blessed or eucharistized the bread and wine, the meaning of
those words is, that he caused a divine benediction to rest upon
them. It is allowed, I think, by learned men, that €v%apt7tiv has
the same signification in the history of the institution, with evXayeiv,
and it is very evident that evxap^tv, as well as ev\oyeti> is used
transitively ; and that therefore as we render the Greek words,
Matt. xxvi. 26. c Jesus took bread and blessed it ;' so in strictness

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1, p. 183. &c.

226 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the following words (verse 27.) should be rendered, ( He took the
cup and blessed or eucharistized it;' and the same may be said
in relation to Mark xiv. 22, 23., St. Luke xxii. 19, 20., and St.
Paul 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25., use the word ivxapi?£iv only in relation
both to the bread and cup ; and therefore to render these texts ?o
as that they may fully come up to the sense of the Greek, there
ought to be the accusative case expressed after the participle
tv%api<?riorag, viz. He took bread, after lie had blessed or eucha
ristized it, he brake it and said : for it is certain the blessing or
eucharistizing terminates on the bread: it indeed imports, that
Jesus addressed himself in prayer to God for a divine benediction ;
but it is clear beyond dispute, that this benediction was to rest
on the elements. It was rational to suppose, that the most divine
institution was to be attended with the most eminent benediction ;
and it was justly believed, that this consisted in the immediate
presence of the Holy Spirit. In St. James's Liturgy, the words of
institution, in relation to the cup, run thus : Taking the cup —
eucharistizing it, consecrating it, filling it with the Holy Ghost,
&c. For they or he who drew the Liturgy did take for granted
what I now argue for, viz. that ivxapi<?£iv does import a con
secration wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit ; and not only
the ancient fathers, but even the heretics of the first ages allowed
this ; and the eucharistized bread, in the language of Irenseus
and Justin Martyr, is the bread that has by this means been
sanctified ; and indeed the Apostle St. Paul does give great coun
tenance to this doctrine, in saying : ' By one Spirit we have
been all baptized into one body, and we have all been made to
drink into one Spirit.' 1 Cor. xii. 13. For as in the first clause
he speaks expressly of baptism ; so in the other he does not
obscurely speak of our drinking the cup blessed with the Holy
Ghost in the eucharist. But I conceive the ancients chiefly
built their judgment in this particular on the 63d. verse of John
vi. viz. ' It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing : the words which I speak unto you they are Spirit, and
they are life.' I think it is universally agreed that these words
are an explication of that mystery, which he had spoke so much
of in the foregoing part of the chapter, viz. eating his flesh, and
drinking his blood. I hope to give my reader satisfactory proof,
before I conclude this book, that this eating and drinking the
flesh and blood of Christ, was by him meant of the eucharist

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 227

only ; and that this was the sentiment of the generality of the
ancients : so taking this at present for granted, I will only con
sider how they interpreted this verse in conformity to that opinion,
and applied it to the eucharistical body and blood ; and particu
larly that by Spirit in this text, they understood the sacramental
body consecrated by the Spirit. Mr. Calvin, upon this verse,
takes notice, that St. Austin so takes these words, as that when
our Saviour says, < the flesh profiteth nothing ;' the sense is,
'the flesh alone profiteth nothing without the quickening Spirit;7
and that by the flesh, he understood the sacramental flesh, will in
due time be sufficiently proved. St. Cyril of Alexandria expressly
says, ' Christ calls his flesh Spirit ;' and he had given the reason
for it in the foregoing words, viz. ' He fills his body with the
energy of the Spirit ,' and that he means this of his body in the
eucharist, will hereafter be proved. And again, ' Common flesh
cannot give life ; of this our Saviour is a witness, saying, my
flesh profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit that quickeneth ; so since
it is the Word's own body, on this account it is considered as
giving life, and is so ;' and that he means it of the eucharist, the
learned reader may convince himself by turning his eyes to the
original. St. Ambrose, as already cited, has sufficiently shewed
that he was of this mind ; for he proves the eucharist to be the
body of Christ, because it is the body of the Divine Spirit. St.
Athanasius has been already cited, applying this text to the
eucharist, and telling us, that by spirit and life, is meant the
body given for the world, and distributed to, or in ecery one, &c.
And yet he speaks more expressly, if possible, to the same'pivr-
pose, when discoursing of the eucharist, he says, The flesh of the
Lord is a quickening Spirit. And Ammonius took it so above
an hundred years before him, in these words, What he here calls
the spirit, is the flesh, replenished with the energy of the life-
giving Spirit. Now considering that these passages in the
ancients are so directly for our present purpose, to prove that by
the Spirit here is meant the sacramental flesh of Christ, and that
all that goes before, concerning eating the flesh and drinking the
blood of Christ, relates to the eucharist, as I am hereafter to shew;
we are not to wonder that the priest and people of these ages did
expect, that at their prayers the Holy Ghost should communicate
his influences to the holy symbols. It must be owned, that this
text is far from being easy or obvious, even though it be actnow-

2'28 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

ledged to be an explication of what goes before this : it is indeed
no difficult matter for any new interpreter to clap an arbitrary
sense upon this place, and make it chime with his own inventions ;
but I must declare, that if I had so good light from antiquity for
explaining other obscure texts of the New Testament, as I hive
for this ; and if-the writers and the whole Church of the four first
centuries did so clearly determine the meaning of any other con
text, as they do this of the sixth chapter of St. John, 1 should
desire no other help for the understanding the Scriptures of the
New Testament, but what I receive from them ; and indeed we
must once for all discard the authority of antiquity, in deter
mining any controversy, which either now does or shall hereafter
depend in relation to any point of Christianity, if such evidence
may not cast the scale, when there is nothing to weigh against it
but the airy conjectures of modern doctors. And that the glosses
of late interpreters are but conjectures, will, I suppose, be easy to
be demonstrated from the great variety and inconsistence of
them." * Then he gives us the several expositions of this text
made by the moderns, and shews that scarce two of them keep
harmony with each other. Thus this very worthy and learned
gentleman proves, that the Primitive Church understood the
words of our Saviour, " It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh
profiteth nothing," to denote that the flesh and blood, which who
soever eat and drank, should have eternal life, should have his
quickening Spirit communicated to them, because without it the
bare flesh could be of no advantage for that purpose. And as the
flesh and blood he there spoke of was his sacramental body and
blood which he afterwrrds gave to his Apostles, and commanded
them and their successors to give the same to all under their
charge till his coining again ; therefore the Primitive Church did
understand that the Holy Ghost descended on the sacramental
body and blood of Christ, to infuse into them this quickening vir
tue ; without which, material elements could have no quickening
virtue. And therefore they supposed not the elements to be fully
consecrated and made the body and blood of Christ in power and
effect, that flesh and blood, which communicated eternal life to
the worthy receivers, till they had prayed that the Holy Ghost
might come down upon the elements, and make them the body

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 195.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 229

and blood of Christ ; because his descent upon them, and opera
tion in them and with them is that alone which can make them
the food of eternal life, since, as our Saviour expressly teaches,
"It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profitelh nothing:"
And if we had not forsaken that doctrine and practice of the Pri
mitive Church, which they had learned from the Apostles,
(otherwise it could not have prevailed at all times and in all
places) and followed the fancies of Calvin, Beza, and other
moderns who have paid too much regard to their authority, we
should all have understood the sixth chapter of St. John as
treating of the holy eucharist, and then this text concerning the
flesh's being able to work nothing without the spirit, had been
plain and obvious to us, and we should no more have been divid
ed about the meaning of it than the ancients were. But after
Calvin had taught that the sixth chapter of St. John was not to
be understood of the eucharist, the Protestant critics and com
mentators all ran into that notion ; then, indeed, the 63d. v., as
well as other passages of that chapter, became difficult, and not
easy to be understood ; so that scarce two expositors gave the
same interpretation of it. But as Calvin, and his followers, the
modern commentators, were certainly in the wrong, in maintaining
that this chapter related not to the holy eucharist, as Mr. Johnson
has proved, * so it is manifest that they must be in the wrong in
the exposition of the 63d. verse. For if our Saviour, in that chap
ter, as I doubt not but he did, spake concerning his sacramental
body and blood, the only body and blood which he appointed us
to eat and drink, then we have no reason to question, but when
he tells us that the flesh, that is, the bare elements, which he ap
pointed to be the perfect representative of his broken body and
effused blood, " profiteth nothing," but it is the " spirit that quick
eneth," adding, " The words that I speak unto you they are spirit,
and they are life ;" he plainly teaches that his Holy Spirit, the
Lord and giver of life, should descend upon, and operate in and
with those holy elements, and by them convey to us the seed or
principle of eternal life. As therefore the Primitive Church had
tfris plain Scripture evidence, that the sacred elements in the
eucharist, though as full and perfect representatives of the flesh
and blood of Christ as possibly might be, yet could not profit alone

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 351. &c.

230 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

without the Spirit, they had certainly very good authority from
Scripture, to pray to God the Father, that he would send down
his Holy Spirit on the bread and the cup, that he might make
them that body and blood of Christ which should be indeed pro
fitable to our salvation : and they had just reason also to conclude,
that when our Saviour himself blessed those elements, he commu
nicated his Holy Spirit to them. And forasmuch as there is no
Church, no Liturgy which has not a prayer or petition for this
purpose, till Bucer and Martyr contrived to have it expunged the
Liturgy of the Church of England, we may very reasonably con
clude from the golden rule of Vincentius Lirinensis, that having
such Antiquity, Universality, and Consent, to support the prac
tice, it is an institution of Christ, which the Apostles taught
wheresoever they preached the gospel : consequently that without
such a petition, the consecration is lame and defective, and not
performed according to our Saviour's institution. And in all the
Liturgies, except that of the Church of Rome, and the first
Liturgy of king Edward VI., taken from that, this prayer or in
vocation follows the words of institution, and the oblation and
thankful remembrance of Christ's death. The Roman canon or
mass being therefore particular in this point, and in the order in
which this petition is placed, ought certainly to have the least
regard paid to it in this particular. For certainly, as I have
already observed, the consecration is completed and perfected by
the descent of the Holy Spirit on the bread and the cup, by
which descent they receive their quickening and life-giving virtue,
without which they cannot profit, as our Saviour himself has
taught us. But it may perhaps be said, that according to our
own doctrine, when our Saviour blessed the elements, and thereby
communicated his holy and life-giving Spirit to them, it is evident
that he did this before he spake the words, " Take, eat, this is my
body," &c., and therefore we being appointed to do as he did,
ought, in the first place, to bless the elements, and in his words
declare them to be his body and blood, according as is done in
the Roman canon, and the first Liturgy of king Edward VI.,
which seems in this to have followed the order used by Christ
himself more strictly than all the world besides. But we must
consider, that though we are commanded to &0 or offer what
Christ did, that is, bread and wine mixed with water as his repre
sentative body and blood, yet there is and must be a difference

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 231

betwixt the manner in which he offered, and that in which we
ought to offer. For, first, he offered himself, that is, he offered
the sacred symbols of his own body ; but we do not offer the
symbols of our own body, but of Ms body who is a different per
son from any of us, and therefore we cannot offer exactly in the
same manner as he did ; for there must be a difference betwixt a
person offering the representative of himself, and his offering the
representative of another. Secondly, Christ offered the symbols
of his body which was not yet broken, and of his blood which was
not yet shed upon the cross, but which was to be there broken
and shed ; but we offer the symbols of his body long since broken,
and of his blood long since shed : he, in his oblation, gave his
natural body to be broken, and his blood to be shed ; but we, in
ours, only commemorate and offer to God the memorial of what
was then done ; for the command is, " Do this in remembrance
of," or as a memorial "of me:" which makes a very material
difference betwixt what he did, and what we are obliged to do.
So that if the words which our Saviour used when he gave thanks
or blessed, or consecrated the sacred elements, had been recorded
by the Evangelists, and so made known to us, they would not
have been proper to have been used by us. For to offer a thing
to be done, and to offer the memorial of that which is already
done ; to offer one's self to suffer, and to offer the commemoration
of another person that has already suffered, can never be done
with the same words, or exactly in the same manner; there must
be what we call mutatis mutandis in such a case. We are
indeed obliged to give thanks, to bless or consecrate, and offer as
Christ did ; but we cannot do it in the same words, if we knew
what those words were, for the reasons here given.

Again, in the last place, Christ instituted a new sacrament,
and therefore it was proper for him to perform consecration in
the first place, and then to declare to his disciples the reason why
he had done it, and what he required them to do : but we are to
administer a sacrament already instituted, and therefore ought to
declare our authority and commission for that ministration in the
first place. So that although our Saviour first consecrated the
elements before he spake the words, Take eat, this is my body,
fyc. yet it is not proper for us to do so, because we use them not
on the same occasion and to the same purpose he did : for he
spake them at the very time he delivered the elements to his

232 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

disciples, and in order to let them know what they then received
at his hands ; but we use them as declaration of the commission
and authority by which we act in this ministration, and as a
testimony that we believe this not to be common food, but that it
is so perfect a representative of the body and blood of Christ by
virtue of the institution, as to be fit to be called and dignified
with the name of his body and blood. But if it be still thought
necessary or expedient by any one, that these words of our
Saviour should be used in the last place as they were used by
him, and that it is more regular for them to follow than precede
the invocation of the Holy Spirit, because it is certain that if our
Saviour did use any such invocation, it was before he pronounced
these words which we commonly call the words of institution ; I
desire them to consider that he spake not these words till he
began the very act of distribution, and was actually delivering
the bread to his disciples when he said, Take, eat, S$c. There
fore if it be necessary to use those words in the same order and
manner they were used by our Saviour, they ought not to be used
in the act of consecration, but in the act of distribution. But
neither the Roman Canon, nor the first Liturgy of king Edward
VI. compiled from the Roman, which are the only Liturgies that
have placed the invocation of the divine benediction upon the
elements in the first place, ordered our Saviour's words, Take,
eat, $c. to be used in the act of distribution ; neither does the
present Liturgy of the Church of England, which has no invoca
tion at all for a divine benediction on the bread and wine, order
these words to be said in the act of distribution as they were
used by our Saviour ; but all these, as well as those Liturgies
which place the words of institution in the first place, have
appointed different words to be used when the elements are dis
tributed to the communicants : consequently all of them differ
from our Saviour's practice in the use of these words. A certain
evidence that all are agreed, that we cannot, neither ought we to
pretend to administer the eucharist exactly in the same manner
and with the same form of words our Saviour did, but with such
an alteration as the different circumstances of our Saviour's own
oblation and ours have made necessary. And therefore we ought
not only to enquire how our Saviour administered this holy
sacrament, but also how the Apostles administered it according
to his institution. For though our Saviour's circumstances were

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. '233

different from ours, the circumstances of the Apostles as to this
matter were exactly the same with ours, and for this reason we
ought to celebrate it exactly as they did. Now forasmuch as the
holy Scriptures have not informed us how the Apostles did
celebrate it, we can learn this only from tradition : and forasmuch
as we have an universal uninterrupted tradition, that this sacra
ment was consecrated by pronouncing the words of institution,
by making an oblation of the elements as the representative body
and blood of Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death,
and by a petition for the divine benediction, or the Holy Spirit to
descend upon the elements, and that this recital of the words of
institution, the oblation and invocation, follow each other in this
order in all Liturgies used before the Reformation, except the
Roman only, we have as good evidence as we have for the canon
of Scripture itself, that this form and order was used and pre
scribed by the Apostles, and therefore that we ought not to
deviate from it. For if the Apostles had not ministered in this
form and order, it had been impossible it could have prevailed in
all times, in all places, and amongst all the faithful ; so that we
should be able to find no time or place for fifteen hundred years
together in which it was not celebrated in this manner, only as
the Church of Rome inverted the order, and put the invocation of
the divine benediction in the first place. But where a particular
Church differs from all others, though it be only in the order of a
petition, which is not a very material circumstance, a man would
not choose to follow it in that particularity. And where a Church
finds it necessary to alter her Liturgy, she should rather, though it
be but in a circumstance of order or place, choose to reform even
as to that circumstance agreeable to the practice of the most
ancient and pure Churches, than to that of a most corrupt Church.
For though I will not say that this inversion of the order, with
regard to the invocation of the divine benediction in the Roman
canon, is such a corruption as would justify a separation from it,
if it had not essential corruptions and deviations from Apostolical
practice ; yet, as it is particular in this inversion of the order, I
conceive it is not proper to be followed in this point by those who
have found it necessary to forsake its communion. And, therefore,
as the first Liturgy of king Edward VI. has followed the Roman
order in this particular, in which the Roman Church is singular
and different from all other ancient Churches, I cannot think it
2 H

•234 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

proper that the invocation should be restored as it stands in that
Liturgy, but that it should be restored as in the Clementine, and
all other ancient Liturgies in which it follows the words of insti
tution and the oblation, since we have all the reason imaginable
to believe that was the Apostolical order. But the Romanists
have another objection against the putting this petition for the
descent of the Holy Ghost, to give a divine benediction to the
bread and the cup after the pronouncing the words of institution,
and that is, that the using such an invocation in this place implies,
that those who use it, as all the Greek and Eastern Churches do,
plainly shew that they do not suppose the consecration to be
made and perfected, by the bare recital of the words which our
Saviour spake to his disciples, but that after the priest has duly
and regularly pronounced those words, they make this petition
necessary to complete and perfect the consecration. This Cardi
nal Bona calls a wicked and detestable error of the modern Greeks,
saying, that " Nicolaus Cabasilas puts upon the Latins the most
wicked and detestable error of modern Greece, that is to say, that
the consecration is not made by the, words pronounced by the
priest in the person of Christ, but by the prayer of the same priest
afterwards praying and saying, Make this bread the precious
body of thy Christ ; which petition follows the words of conse
cration in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom."* He might have
added, and in all other ancient Liturgies but the Roman. " But,"
says he a little after, " the Orthodox Greeks holding fast the doc
trine and faith of their ancient fathers, being asked by the Latins
concerning this matter in the Council of Florence, openly professed
that the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body and
blood of Christ by his own words : but that prayer, Make this
bread the precious body, #c., which they afterwards add, is to
be understood in this sense, that what is already consecrated by
the words of Christ, may be for the salvation of those that receive
them. These are their very words in the twenty-fifth session of
the Council : We have said that we confess that the holy bread

* Nicolaus Cabasilas, in expositione Liturgiae Latinis appingit recentioris
Graeciae pessimum ac detestandum errorem, consecrationem scilicet non fieri
verbis in persona Christi a sacerdote prolatis, sed precatione ejusdem sacerdotis
postea orantis & dicentis : Fac hunc pan-en preciosum corpus Christi tut, quae post
verba consecralionis extat in Liturgia Chrysostomi. Bona de rebus Lititrg. lib. 2.
cap, 13. p. 780.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 235

is transubstantiated and made the body of Christ by these words,
This is my body : but afterwards as you also say, command
these to be carried by the hands of thy holy angel unto thy sub
lime altar : so we also pray, saying, that thy Spirit may descend
upon us, and make this bread the precious body of thy Christ
in us, and may he change these very gifts by his Holy Spirit,
that they may be made to those who communicate of them for
the cleansing of the soul, for the remission of sins, and may not
bring upon us either judgment or condemnation'''* Then he
acknowledges, that the Mo z arable or ancient Spanish Liturgy,
the Missal of St. Germanus, or ancient Gallican Liturgy, and
the Liturgies of St. James, St. Mark, St. Clement, and St. Basil,
and also the Armenian Liturgy, have every one of them such a
prayer following the words of institution ; but maintains, that in
all these Liturgies they are to be understood in the sense put
upon them by the Greeks in the Council of Florence. Goar
says the same with the learned cardinal as to the opinion of the
Greeks concerning this prayer, and tells us particularly, that the
bishops of Russia, Nice, Trapezond, and Mitylene, who were
chosen by the rest of the Greeks which came to the Council to
treat with the Latins concerning an union, to manage the con
ferences that were held on that occasion, f all agreed in this
answer which I have recited from Cardinal Bona. Arcudius
also tells us, " That the Greek fathers, in the last session of the
Council of Florence, being asked by pope Eugenius the fourth,
Why they added those prayers after the words of Christ, as if the
consecration was not yet perfected ? Answered, That they made
no doubt, but the consecration was made by the words of Christ :

* At Grasci Orthodox! veterum patrum snornm acfidei sentential adhasrentes,
hac de re in Concilio Florentino a Latinis interrogati, apert£ professi sunt
panein & vinum in corpus & sanguinem Christi per ipsius verba transubstantiari :
Illara vero orationern, Fac hunc panem preciosum corpus, $c., quain postea adjun-
gnnt, hunc sensum habere, tat quod jam consecratum est verbis Christi, fiat
suscipientibus in salutem. Hsec ipsorum verba sunt sess. 25. Concilii. Fateri
nos diximus,per h&c verba, Hoc est corpus meum, transubstantiari sacrum panem
<V fieri corpus Christi : Sed postea quemadmodum ros dicitis, Jube hapc perferri per
manus S. Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum ; ita nos qnoque oramus dicentes, vt
spiritus sanctus descendat super nos, if efficiat in nobis panem hunc preciosum Corpus
Christi sui, transrnutetque ipsa dona fpiritu sancto suo, utjiant communicantibus in
purqatorium ammo:, in remissionem peccatorum, Sf non fiant injudicium $c condem-
n at ion em nostram. Bona de rebus Liturg. lib. 2. cap. 13. p. 781.
f In St. Joan. Chrysost. Miss. Not. num. 139.

236 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

but nevertheless they said those prayers, that benefit might accrue
to us by that sacrifice." * Divers other learned Romanists urge
this declaration of the Greeks in that Council, and from thence
argue, that even the Greeks themselves, who always use this
prayer after the words of institution, do not understand them us
in any measure contributing to the consecration of the elements.
Consequently that all the Churches both of the east and west,
that is, all Churches now in the world, hold that the elements
are completely consecrated by the priest's regularly and duly
pronouncing the words, Take, eat, this is my body, &c., and
that the prayers for the divine benediction or descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the elements contributes nothing to the consecration,
even in the opinion of those that use it. But I desire it may be
considered, that whatever was said or done by the Greeks at the
Council of Florence, is by no means to be esteemed a good testi
mony of the opinion of the Greek Church. For though that
Council was called to procure an union betwixt the Greeks and
the Latins, and the Greeks, or the most of them, which were
present at that Council, did subscribe what was there determined,
and so made an union (as it was called) betwixt the two Churches ;
yet the Greek Churches unanimously condemned every thing that
was done by their delegates in that Council. The case was this :
in the year 1438., about 15 years before Constantinople was
taken by the Turks, and the Greek empire entirely destroyed,
John Palreologus, the last emperor but one of that city, being
reduced to great straits by the prevailing power of the Mahometans,
who had dispossessed him and his predecessors of a vast empire,
and scarce left him any territory beyond the imperial city itself,
desired the assistance of the western princes against the infidels.
But all these princes being at that time strict adherers to the
Church of Rome, and looking upon the Greeks as schismatics,
the emperor found that no assistance was to be obtained from
them, except he could bring his Church under the dominion of
the See of Rome, and oblige the Greeks to embrace the opinions

* Patres Grasci in Concilio Florentine sess. ultima, interrogati ab Eugenic
quarto summo pontifice, cur illas preces adclerent post verba Christi, perinde ac
si nondura eftet peracta consecratio : Responderunt, se nihil dubitare, quin con-
secratio fieret verbis Christi ; dicere tamen illas preces, ut nobis utilitas ex tanto
sacrificio proveniat. Arcud. de concordia Eccles. Occident. Sf Orient, lib. 3. cap.
33.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 237

-• v'

and doctrines of the Romans, which were contrary to their own. /
Hereupon he, with the patriarch of Constantinople, and many /
other Greek bishops, came to a Council, which the pope had
summoned to meet at Ferrara, but which, by reason of the plague, \
was removed from thence to Florence. Here the patriarch died,
and the emperor, who was resolved to have the union made and
completed, in order to procure the assistance which he wanted,
obliged his bishops to agree to whatever the pope and his Council
required of them. And Sgyropulus, the great ecclesiarch of the
Church of Constantinople, who accompanied the emperor and
patriarch on this occasion, and who was present at all the debates,
shews, in his history of this Council, wherein he is very particular
as to what concerns the Greeks, that the Greeks were directly
compelled and forced by the emperor to comply with every thing
the pope required of them, though never so contrary to their own
sentiments, and that he himself and most of the rest subscribed
the articles required of them writh the greatest reluctance ; and
when they came back to Constantinople, the bishops and clergy
of the Greek Church refused to admit to communion all the
subscribers to this pretended union. Therefore what was done
by any of the Greeks at this Council, cannot be a testimony of
the opinion of the Greek Church, which condemned every thing
that wras there done by their delegates. And in particular as to
this prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the elements,
which the Romanists tell us the Greeks interpreted in the manner
before mentioned, he tells us expressly, that this interpretation
was given by the bishop of Nice only, and that without the
knowledge or consent of the rest. He tells us, that after they
had subscribed to the definitions of the Council, which he says
was done by many of them with tears and sighs, the emperor
called all the subscribers to him, and speaking kindly to them,
told them they should now go to the pope, and see with what
countenance he subscribed : and when they were all got upon
their horses to ride to the palace, the emperor called aloud to
them, that the bishop of Nice had orders to make a speech to the
pope, which they should hear when they came there. So they
\vent with an implicit faith, not one of the company knowing a
word that the bishop was appointed to say. When they came to
his holiness, as soon as the bishop opened his mouth, Cardinal
Julian called to the notary to write : wherefore the notary took

238 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

his place, and with his clerks wrote down every thing the bishop
said. The bishop of Nice, in the beginning of his speech just
touching upon some other matters, ca"me, in the conclusion, to
speak of the consecration of the tremendous and mystical sacrifice,
to this effect :— " Whatsoever is held by the holy Roman Church
in the article of consecrating the divine gifts, that we hold also ;
that is, that the divine words of our Lord, Take, eat, this is my
body : drink ye all of this, this is my blood, are those which
consecrate and perfect the divine gifts : in this we agree with
you, nor do we hold any thing otherwise than you do. Never
theless, the ministry of the priest may be compared to the labour
of the husbandman, that the earth may bring forth fruit : but we
refer all to those words of our Lord, in which we perfectly agree
with you."* This, adds he, was the scope of Nice's speech,
which he enlarged with ornament and rhetorical flourishes, and
he spoke them as the sentiments of the community, we knowing
nothing of the matter, neither did the community assent to any of
these things. He tells us farther, that the Latins desired this
speech of the bishop of Nice might be inserted amongst the
resolutions of the synod ; but the emperor would not consent to
it, fearing lest at his return to Constantinople, he should be
censured as having overthrown the sacred order of the Liturgy
which the great Basil, and the divine Chrysostom had delivered
to us, and which had been derived from James the Lord's brother.
Thus we learn from this eminent Greek, who was present at the
Council of Florence, and a manager there, that the real sentiments
of the Greeks which were at that Council, as well as the sentiments
of the whole Greek Church, were indeed very different from that
of the Romans, with regard to the invocation of the Holy Ghost,
to bless the elements, and make them the body and blood of Christ,
notwithstanding so many learned men of the Church of Rome
have from their acts of that Council asserted the contrary. And
there was but one Greek in that Council who offered to say the

*"O7T€p oogctfet n ayta po/iauo) ljejc\i}(ria irf.pl rrjs re\fid)ff€us rwv 3eia>i/ tiuptav TUTO
So^d^op,tv /cat ripeis. "On at B'etat KOI SeffiroriKai (fxavai fifflv at ayid£sffai Kai
TfXciso-ai. TO Sreia Suipa, rfjsv TO, \d€tTf, tydytTt, TSTO f^i TO <rw/ia ^«' Kai TO

7Tt€T£ f£ O.VTS TTCLVTtS, TSTO 6TTI TO OlfJLa fJLS, Kftl ffV(J.(^<i}VS}ltV KO.I KO.TO. TSTO VfJ.1v'

« yap 8o£d£o/JLiv 'a\\o Trapa vpeis \eytT* /cot 5o£dYeTe. 2v/i)3a\\e<r3'0£ 5s Qa/Jitv ttai
TOV tepea Trpbs TavTa ws TOV yecapybv irpbs rt\v eirifj.* \eiav TWV e'« T-rjs yqs
To 5e -nav cis Tas SeffiroTiKas eKfivas (pwvas a.vdyop.tv, Kai Iffpiv KO.I fis TSTO ffv
vfj.lv. Sguropul. Hist. Concil. Florent. Sect. x. Cap. viii. p. 293.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 239

contrary, and he did it at the command of the emperor, without
the consent or knowledge of any of his companions : and even
the emperor himself, notwithstanding the pressing reasons he had
to yield to the Latins in every thing they required, yet durst not
agree that what this man said should be put into those resolutions
of the Council to which the Greeks subscribed, being apprehensive
how highly his Church at home would resent it. His fear to
comply here, when he had agreed to so many other matters,
plainly shews, that he knew that what the bishop of Nice had
said was what his clergy and people at home would by no means
be brought to assent to. And the man who made this speech, so
much to the good liking of the Latins, when he returned to his
own country again, found such reception there, that he quitted
the archbishoprick of Nice, and went back to Italy, going entirely
over to the Church of Rome, where he was honourably received,
and made a cardinal, and continued firm in that communion to
his death. His name was Bessarion.

Thus all the mighty noise which the Romanists have made
concerning the declaration of the Greeks at the Council of
Florence, proves at last to be no more than the declaration of
one man amongst them, without the knowledge or consent of the
rest, and that too of a man who, though a Greek by birth and
education, did in many instances at that time, and particularly
in this, shew a greater affection and inclination to the doctrines
and practices of the Church of Rome than his own, and very soon
after entirely quitted the communion of the Greeks, to embrace
that of the Romans. So that what was done with regard to this
point in the Council of Florence, is a clear testimony that the
Greeks had then, as well as before and since, very different sen
timents from the Church of Rome as to the form of consecration
of the eucharist, and that they did not even then think that the
priest's recital of the words, This is my body, 8$c. consecrated
the elements alone, without also desiring the divine benediction
by the descent of the Holy Ghost to make the bread and wine
the body and blood of Christ in power and effect. And if we
would know the real opinion of the modern as well as ancient
Greeks on this head, we may have it from Mark archbishop of
Ephesus, the only Greek that had the courage to oppose the
Latins in the Council of Florence, and who would not be drawn
to give up the doctrines of his own Church through the threatnings

240 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

either of his own emperor or of the pope. He, in a book, the
title of which is, That the divine gifts are not consecrated by
the Lord's words only, but by the subsequent prayer and bene
diction of the priest, tells us, as Arcudius himself has cited him,
that "we find none of the Apostles and doctors of the Chuich
who have sanctified and consecrated the eucharistical gift with
our Lord's words only : but all of them, with one unanimous
consent, having by way of narration recited those words, and put
us in mind of what he did, and thereby as it were qualifying
those gifts for a change, then by the prayer and benediction of
the priest, the gifts are energetically, that is, in power and effect,
made the prototype, the very body of the Lord."* This was,
therefore, the opinion of the Greeks at the Council of Florence,
not one of them, as we learn from Sgyropulus, declared himself
there to be of another opinion, except Bessarion archbishop of
Nice, who was then beginning to leave the Greeks, in order to go
over entirely to the Latins, as he afterwards did. Neither did
Mark of Ephesus maintain any new doctrine in this matter, and
which was not before generally received amongst the Greeks ; for
Arcudius tells us, that what he here wrote is taken almost word
for word from Cabasilas archbishop of Thessalonica, about an
hundred years before him ; and that Simeon of Thessalonica, who
wrote a little before Mark, was in the same error, as he calls it.
In short, Arcudius, with all his endeavours to make the Greek
and Latin Churches agree in this point, cannot find any one
writer among the Greeks that speaks otherwise of this matter,
than the bishop of Ephesus has done, and can find nothing for
his purpose but the declaration made at the Council of Florence,
which he would fix upon all the Greeks that were there, though
it was made by one only, without the consent or knowledge of
the rest ; and that one a person that was then beginning to
forsake the communion of the Greeks.

But besides all this, the prayer itself will not bear the interpre
tation put upon it by the archbishop of Nice, afterwards cardinal

TT avrtav riav ea"irortKu>v prj/j.nov xai fj.v(av ayiffai
rb rrjs fv^apt^ias Swpoi'. 'AA\a TrpoXeyofjieva, p,fv Sirjyrj/J.ariK(a5 ra
irapa iraffi CV^MVUS, rjiJ-as re avacpepovra irpbs r-rjv fji.vrjp.Tjv TB Tore irpax-
SBVTOS, /cat Svva^iv uffirep evi'svTa rois TrpOKei/j.tvois eis ri)v p.frafto\rjv, kiriyivo^vrtv
Se fj-era ravra TTJV fvxnv Te KaL '^vKoylav TS iepkws, evepyeia ^ratroifiv ijSrj ra Supa
Trpbs avrb TO Trpcar6rvTrov e/cavo o-w/io TO SeoTroriK^. Arcud. de Concordia Eccles.
Occident. & Orient, lib, 3. cap. 28.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 241

Bessarion. His words, as Goar transcribes them from the Roman
impression of the Council, were these : — " We say that we confess
the holy bread to be completely consecrated and made the body
of Christ by those words : (that is, the words, This is my body,
&c.) but afterwards as you say, Command that these gifts be
carried by the hands of thy holy angel to thy heavenly altar ;
so we also pray, saying, Let thy Holy Spirit descend upon us,
and make ttt US this bread to be the precious body of thy Christ,
and that which is in this cup the precious blood of thy Christ ;
and change them with thy Holy Spirit, that they may be to all
that receive them for the cleansing of the soul, and remission of
sins, and not for judgment and condemnation"* But the words
in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, which is the Liturgy used by
all the modern Greeks subject to the patriarch of Constantinople,
are these, Make this bread the precious body of thy Christ, and
that which is in the cup the precious blood of thy Christ,
changing them by thy Holy Spirit. And the words tu U8t on
which the whole of Bessarion's interpretation lies, are not in the
prayer, either as it stands in St. Chrysostom's, or in any other
Greek Liturgy. And yet this is all which the Romanists have
to say in order to reconcile this prayer (which they acknowledge
to be in all Liturgies but their own) with their opinion, that the
consecration is completely finished by the priest's saying, This is
my body, &c. So that they have no way of reconciling this
petition to their own doctrine, and so to prove their doctrine
Catholic, but from words which are not to be found there. This
is fairly and ingenuously confessed by a late writer of the Roman
communion, who frankly acknowledges, that the Greek and
Eastern Churches do not suppose the consecration to be made
and perfected by the bare pronunciation of those words which
our Saviour spoke to his disciples. In his comment upon the
Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil, when he comes to this prayer of
invocation, he says : — " This is that famous prayer, which all the

* 'Hyueis eiTro/xei/ on OyUoXoyS/jei' cm rwv prj/jLaTwv TSTOW Tf\fix<r$ai, rov
(iprov, Kai 7iVf(r3ai <Tw/na XP1^^- 'A\A.T v^epov Karats Kai avToi \tyeT€' KsXevcrov
irpocr£Vf.'%di]vcu TO. doapa ravra Sia %eip6s ayis ayyzXs els TO virepxpd.vi.uv tra 3-i><T«a<rr/-
piov' OUTGO icai r/^iets eu%<^jU60a, \tyovTes, /careA.Seti' TO irvevfj.a TO uyiov i(p' rjftds'
Kai Troirjcrai ev rj/MV TOV aprov TOVTOV, Tifj-iov trwytta T« Xpi^H' Kai rb ev T(I)

, TIJJ.IOV ai/j.a TS Xpi?5* Kai yuera^aA.fiv cwra ry 7n>£uyucm O.VTS T(p a*yt'a>, <U
TOIS fjLfTa\a/j£dvH(nv e/s vr\tyw tyvxfjs, eis a<p€<nv apapTioav, p.r) y'svwvrai
Kpifj.a ij eis KaraKpifj-a i]p.(»v Goar in St. Joan. Chrysost. Miss. Not. num. 139.
2 i

242 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

oriental Liturgies retain, which being pronounced, the whole
divine work of consecration is believed to be completed and
perfected."* Then he proceeds to give us the several forms of
this prayer, which are all to the same effect in the Liturgies of
Basil, Chrysostom, James, Mark, and Clement, as he observes,
which 1 need not here transcribe, having already set them down
in the beginning of my discourse on this head : and lets us know,
that in many Liturgical offices published at Rome, and pretended
to be translated from the Eastern languages, and particularly in
one form compiled out of divers of those Liturgies for the use of
the Maronites, the old true form is changed in this manner : —
"And make tins bread, which is the body of Christ, to be
profitable to us for remission of sins and eternal life : and this
cup, which is the precious blood of Christ, make profitable to
us. But in the manuscripts of all those Liturgies, and of all
others which we have, there is nothing like it." f For in all the
original manuscript or printed Liturgies we have either of the
Eastern or the Greek Churches, I may add, and of the Western
Churches too, except the Roman, the prayer is made in the same
form with that in the Clementine Liturgy, and plainly invokes the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon the elements as well as upon us,
to make them the body and blood of Christ ; evidently implying
that they are not made so by the recital of the words, Take, eat,
this is my body, &c. And upon this account the Romanists, to
reconcile it to their commonly received doctrine, have in the
Maronite versions before mentioned altered it as above. Therefore,
as Renaudotius further observes : — " From the words of this
prayer (if they cannot be drawn to that sense which confines the
descent of the Holy Ghost to the pious and profitable receiving
the holy mysteries) many divines immediately suppose, that the
Coptics, no less than the other oriental Christians, are in the
same error which they charge upon the modern Greeks ; which
they thus define, That they give no consecrating power to our

* Ha3c est insignis ilia oratio, quam omnes orientales Liturgiae representant,
qua deraum pronunciata, omne divinum consecrationis opus perfectum & con-
summatum esse intelligitur. Renaudot. Comment, ad Litury. Copt. St. Basil.
p. 238.

f Et hunc panem, corpus videlicet Christi, facial nobis prodessc sumentibus, ad
remissionem peccatorum fy vitam ceternam : et hunc calicem, sanguinem preciosum
Christi, faciat nobis prodesse, $c. In codicibus vero manuscriptis illarum omnium
Liturgiarum & aliarum quos habenius, nihil simile legitur. Ibid. p. 213.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 243

Lord's words, but to the prayers of the priest, especially the
invocation. Which opinion they attribute to Cabasilas and to
Mark of Ephesus, as lately introduced by them, and pretend that
it was condemned in the Council of Florence : abjured indeed at
first by the Greeks, but afterwards revived at Constantinople by
the schismatics, and especially Mark of Ephesus. A learned
man, Richard Simon, who has wrote much upon this subject,
affirms, that all the orientals are of this opinion ; which he seems
to acknowledge is no other than what is commonly attributed to
them : that is, that the consecration is made, not by the sacra
mental words of our Lord Christ, but by the invocation of the
Holy Ghost. But this opinion, he says, is wrongfully accused of
error, because it is not a matter of faith to believe that the
eucharist is consecrated by our Lord's words only, neither has it
been determined by the Church ; forasmuch as not a few divines
have without censure opposed that doctrine, which he proves
chiefly by the authority of Ambrosius Catharinus, and Christopher
de Capite Fontium."* Renaudotius seems afraid to speak so
plain himself in this case as father Simon has done, knowing that
the Missal of the Church of Rome clearly attributes the whole
form of consecration to the words, This is my body, &c. However,
he shews that this opinion was not condemned in the Council of
Florence, saying : — " The use of this prayer is of the highest
antiquity, derived even from the Apostles' times ; neither for

* Ex illius igitur orationis verbis, si quidern in earn sententiam trahi non
possunt, quas totura illapsus spiritus sancti eft'ectum detcrminet ad piam fruct-
uosamque mysteriorum perceptionem, statim plerisque theologis veniet in
mentem, Coptitas, non minus quarn orientales reliquos Christianos, in eodem
versari errore, quo teneri affirmant Grsecos recentiores. Ilium porro ita defi-
niunt : quod verbis Dominicis vim consecrandi nullam tribuant ; sed Sacerdo-
tum precibus, invocation! prsesertim : quam opinionem Cabasilse & Marco
Ephesio quasi noviter ab illis introductam attribuunt; damnatamque perfundunt
in Concilio Florentino : ejuratam quidem prius a Graecis, sed Constantinopoli
posttnodum a schismaticis, Marco prsesertim Ephesio, renovatam. Vir Doctis-
simus qui de hoc argumento multa commentatus est, orientales in eodem
opinione esse affirm at, quam quidem videtur agnoscere, non aliani esse quam
quae vulgo illis tribuitur. Eaestconsecrationem fieri, non perverba sacramentalia
Christi Domini, sed per invocationem spiritus sancti. Jllam vero opinionem
frustra in erroris suspicionem vocari contendit, quia solis verbis Dominicis
eucharistiam consecrari fide certum non est, neque ab Ecclesia determinatum,
cum theologi non pauci earn doctrinam impune propugnasse rcperiantur, quod
authoritate Ambrosii Catharini, &, Christophori de Capite Fontium potissimum
probant. Renaudot. Comment, ad Liturg. Copt. St. Basil, p. 246

244 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

twelve hundred years and more did any one discover any error in
it Some Latin divines first began a dispute about it in Greece,
whom Nicolas Cabasilas modestly refuted, vindicating the Liturgy
of his own Church from their objections, and endeavouring to
reconcile it to the Latin Canon without accusing the Latin3.
From hence to the Council of Florence, there was no controversy
about this matter ; and when there had been conferences for
near two years together at Ferrara and Florence concerning the
procession of the Holy Ghost, unleavened bread, the primacy of
the pope, purgatory, and other heads of doctrine, which gave
occasion to the division of the Churches, and the decree of union
by the consent of both parties was now written ; John de Turre-
cremata began to accuse the Greeks, that they added the invocation
to the words of Christ, which seemed to destroy their efficacy .
The Greeks denied that they held any opinion which diminished
the force or dignity of the words of Christ ; they only preserved
the invocation of the Holy Spirit, as it was delivered to them by
the holy fathers, against which no offence could be taken without
calling in question the faith and religion of those fathers, which
the Church has ever esteemed as her masters. In the mean while
Bessarion and five more bishops, without consulting the patriarch
and the other bishops, made that profession which was agreeable
to the sentiments of Turrecremata. John Palaeologus and the
bishops required Mark of Ephesus (who had not yet separated
from the rest) briefly to expound the doctrine of their Church,
which he performed in a short writing, where he endeavours to
prove that the eucharist was consecrated not by the Lord's words
alone, but by the prayers joined with them, especially the invocation
of the Holy Spirit. The emperor, Joseph the patriarch, and all
the bishops, six only excepted, approved what he had written,
neither could they be drawn from it. Turrecremata insisted that
so much might be added to the synodical resolutions, as might be
sufficient to make what those few had declared to be their opinion,
to be prescribed to all as a rule of faith. This did not please
pope Eugenius, and the resolutions were published as they stood
before without any addition."* Thus this learned Romanist

* Orationis illius antiquissimus usus est, ab Apostolicis usque ductus tempo-
ribus, neque per annos mille ducentos & atnplius, quisquam in ea errorem
deprehenderat. Prirai litem ruovere caeperunt in Grascia, Latini quidam theologi,
quos Nicolaus Cabasilas modest^ refutavit, Liturgiam Ecclesia? suae ab illorum

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 245

testifies, that it was so far from being determined in the Council
of Florence both by Greeks and Latins, as is pretended, that the
consecration of the eticharist was perfected by the words of
institution only ; that not only the Greeks declared the direct
contrary, but even the pope himself would not permit it to be so
decreed. This is the account Renaudotius gives us of this matter,
according to the acts of this Council as published at Rome ; only
he has given a more faithful account of it than Arcudius, or Goar,
or Boua, who would put upon us the opinion of Bessarion, and
five more, as the opinion of all the Greeks who were present at
that synod, except Mark of Ephesus ; whereas there were twenty
one Greek bishops, besides many other eminent priests and
deacons of that Church, present at this Council : so that these
six were little more than a quarter part even of the bishops. So
that supposing the account of this matter, which is given us by
the Romanists, be a truer account than that which is given us
by Sgyropulus, who makes Bessarion only to have joined with the
Latins in this opinion, and to have made a declaration of it, yet
still it made no part of the resolutions of that Council, neither
was it admitted among the articles of the union. And yet both

criminationibus viudicans & cum Latino canone conciliate satagens, neque
Latinos accusans. Inde usque ad synodum Florentinam de illo argumento
controversia nulla fuit; cumque Ferraras & Florentine per armos prope duos
actum esset in congregationibus de processione spiritus sancti, de Azymo, de
primatu papse, de purgatorio, & aliis doctrinas capitibus, quae Ecclesiarura
divisioni causam dederant, & jam decretum unionis utriusque partis consensu
scriptum fuisset, caapit Joannes de Turrecremata Graecos accusare, quod verbis
Christi invocationem conjungerent, quaa illorum efficaciam destruere videbatur.
Negaverunt Grscci, ulla se, quaB verborum Christi vim & dignitatem imminueret,
opinione teneri ; invocationem sancti spiritus antiquitus a sanctis patribus
traditam, soJummodo servare se, de qua suspicio nulla esse posset, quin voca-
retur simul in dubium illorum fides & religio, quos Ecclesia ut magistros semper
coluerat. Interea Bessarion cum aliis quinque episcopis, inconsulto patriarcha
& reliquis antistitibus, earn professionem edidit, quas Tnrrecrematae rationibus
congruebat. Joannes Palasologus & episcopi Marcum Ephesium, qui nondum
secessionem fecerat, hortati sunt ad Ecclesias suae doctrinarn paucis exponendam,
quod ille brevi scripto praestitit, quo probare aggressus est, non solis verbis
Douiinicis, sed adjunctis precibus, prassertim invocatione spiritus sancti, eucha-
ristiam consecrari. Illius sententiam Imperator, Joseph patriarcha, & episcopi,
sex exceptis, omnes probaverunt, nee ab ea avelli potuerunt. Institit Turrecre
mata ut definition! sjnodali, adjiceretur quantum satis esset, ut. quod pauci
illis credere se testati fuerant, omnibus tanquam fide certum prasscriberetur.
Id Eugenio pontifici non placuit, & definitio absque ulla additione promulgata
est, Renaudot. Comment, ad Litury. Copt. St. Hasil. p. 246, 247.

246 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

accounts may be reconciled : for it might be that five bishops
more might declare themselves in a conference, where Sgyropulus
was not present, to be of this opinion, and Sgyropulus not take
notice of that conference ; for he tells us little of any thing where
he was not himself particularly concerned, and yet none of them
might know or consent to what Bessarion was appointed by the
emperor to say at the conclusion of all, and after the Greeks had
subscribed the union, and the Latins were going to subscribe it
also. So that which account soever we believe, (and nothing
hinders but we may believe both) it is evident, that the declaration
made by Bessarion was far from being the opinion of the majority,
even of those Greeks who were at the Council ; and it is acknow
ledged by all, that it was not the opinion of any other of the
Greeks. Again, the same Renaudotius, speaking concerning the
invocation of the Holy Spirit, in another place, having observed
that the Gothic, Gallican, and Mosarabic Liturgies, the Litur
gies used in the Latin or Western Churches, had such a prayer
following the words of institution, no less than those in the Greek
or Eastern Churches, says : — " The first amongst those who have
written concerning Liturgical matters, who has observed this
conformity between the Mosarabic and the Greek practice in this
point, is cardinal Bona, and he judges it is to be understood
according to the same orthodox sense, as he calls it, in which
the Greek fathers explained their prayer, Jftafte tfytS in'Catl
tf)C preClOUS foO&g Of CtyrtSt ; that is to say, that the bread
already consecrated may be sanctified to us and to our salvation
by the descent of the Holy Ghost. But six bishops, who gave
this explanation unknown to the emperor and the other bishops,
and who afterwards when they did know it opposed them, cannot
be called the Greek fathers. But however that be, it cannot by
any means relate to the Syrians and the other orientals who had
no concerns with them. For what the followers of Bessarion
and Arcudius say, that the whole prayer refers to the profitable
receiving the mystery, cannot bear. For the descent, the coming,
and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit upon the gifts already
consecrated into the body and blood of Christ, ought not to be
prayed for, only that those who are going to receive them may
receive them worthily." * Having thus shewn that this prayer of

* Primus inter eos qui de Liturgicis rebus scripserunt, hanc vetusti Mosarabici
Ritas cum Graeco conformitatem observavit cardinalis Bona, camque intelli-

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 247

invocation is of primitive antiquity, and has made a part in all
the Liturgies of the Church, hoth of the East and the West, and
that it has been used after the words of institution in all those
Liturgies, except the Roman, and that the interpretation given of
that prayer by Bessarion, Arcudius, Goar, and Bona, is neither
agreeable to the words of the prayer, nor did the Greeks in the
Council of Florence put that sense upon it, as those learned
authors pretend, I trust I have proved that it has Antiquity,
Universality, and Consent, to convince us that it always made a
part of the form of consecration, till it was cast out of the English
Liturgy for the satisfaction of Bucer and Martyr, foreign Presby
terians invited over hither to spoil our Reformation. I should now
have proceeded to another head, but that a learned gentleman has
been lately pleased to make another objection against this prayer
as it stands in the Clementine Liturgy, the Liturgy I am at this
time examining particularly. Toward the latter end of the year
1717., a book was published, called, "Reasons for restoring some
prayers and directions, as they stand in the communion service
of the first English reformed Liturgy compiled by the bishops in
the 2nd. and 3d. years of the reign of king Edward VI.", wherein
the learned author proved that there were four things requisite to
the due celebration of the holy eucharist : — " 1. The mixture of
water with the sacramental wine. 2. Prayers for the faithful
departed. 3. The invocation of the Holy Ghost to bless the
elements. 4. The oblation of the bread and wine to God, as the
commemorative sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ;" which
were all ordered to be performed in that Liturgy, but were laid
aside in a year or two after, and have ever since been disused by
the Church of England. These things he shews ought to be
restored, to make the eucharist complete and perfect, and agree-

gendam judicavit secundum eundern sensum orthodoxum, inquit, quo patres Graci
in Synodo Florentina suam orationem, fac hunc panem preciosum corpus Christi,
explicarunt : ut nimirum hostia jam consecrata, nobis nostrteque saluti sancti
spiritus illapsu sanctiftcetur. At patres Grasci dici non possunt, episcopi sex,
qui imperatore & aliis episcopis nescientibus, & postea reclamantibus, talem
expositionem dederunt. Qualis vero cunque ilia sit, ad Syros £, reliquos orien-
tales, qui cum illis commune nihil habuerunt, pertinere nullatenus censenda est.
Nam quod aiunt JBessarionis &, Arcudii imitatores, totam orationem referri ad
fructuosam mysterii susceptionem, sustineri non potest. Neque enim postulari
oportet spiritus sancti illapsum, adventum Sc obumbrationern super dona con-
secrata in corpus & sanguinem Christi, ut qui ilia percepturi sunt, digni eadein
suscipiant. Renaudot. Observat, in Liturg. Syriac. p. 92, 93.

248 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

able to the institution of Christ and the practice of the Primitive
Church, and of the whole Christian Church in all times and all
places for above fifteen hundred years. These reasons were
soon answered by another learned gentleman in another little
book, called, "No Reason for restoring," &c. To which a reply
was quickly returned, called, " A Defence of the Reasons," &c.
Not long after the publication of this Defence, a book was pub
lished, entitled, " A Communion Office, taken partly from the
Primitive Liturgies, and partly from the first English Reformed
Common Prayer Book,"' designed for the use of those who did not
think those essential points, before mentioned, sufficiently provided
for in the present Liturgy of the Church of England. This office
was published in the beginning of the year 1718. Some time
after, a learned author of the opposite sentiment thought proper
to write against the Defence, &c., which answer he published in
two parts, called, " No sufficient Reason," &c. In this book he
has thought fit to take notice of the communion office before
mentioned, in which is inserted the prayer of invocation, taken
from the Clementine Liturgy, which prayer he has particularly
been pleased to animadvert upon. And, therefore, as I am now
vindicating that prayer, and proving it to be truly Primitive and
Catholic, I think it proper to take notice of his objection to it.
For though I doubt not but the learned author of the Reasons
will give a satisfactory reply to the second part of the " No suffi
cient Reason," as he has already done to the first, yet, forasmuch,
as I know myself to be more particularly concerned in this point,
(for it was at my request this most ancient prayer was put in the
communion office before mentioned, rather than that which is in
the first Liturgy of Edward VI.) I think it behoves me to give
my reasons for it, and to vindicate it from the charge this learned
gentleman brings against it. He says then : — " It has been
judged proper to frame a tttfto COWttttttttOU OfRCtf, different from
both the first and second Liturgies of king Edward : where,
instead of praying to God to bless and sanctify the gifts and
creatures of bread and wine, that they may be UUtO US the body
and blood of Christ, they now require to pray in these words :—
Send doivn thy Holy Spirit, the witness of the passion of our
Lord Jesus, upon this sacrifice, that he may make this bread
the body of thy Christ, and this cup the blood of thy Christ,
without any manner of restriction, and in as express terms as C.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 249

du Perron, or Bellarmine, or any of the most zealous transub-
stantiators could ever desire, and beyond what is used in the
canon of the mass. And there being such an improvement
already made, what may be suspected to follow in time ? Or,
who can undertake to promise where these reasons will stop at
last? Of which, yet we ought to be very well assured, before it
can be expected that we should come into their new measures, it
being very unreasonable to leave a certainty for an uncertainty,
a fixed and stated Liturgy for a new one, that perhaps in a little
time may as easily be parted with as that of king Edward has
been." *

Now here are two points which I think myself obliged to vin
dicate ; first, that we have not exactly followed the first Liturgy
of king Edward VI., and then that we use the Clementine prayer,
which, in this learned gentleman's opinion, is as strong for tran-
substantiation, as any thing that the most zealous for that doctrine
can desire. As to the first of these, the reason why we have not
exactly followed the first Liturgy of king Edward VI. in this
point, is because that Liturgy has not herein exactly followed
Primitive antiquity, and comes too near the canon of the mass,
where this prayer for the divine benediction, to sanctify the bread
and wine, precedes the words of institution, contrary to all other
Liturgies of the Christian Church, whether in the east or west :
and as that prayer was always placed in the last place to com
plete and perfect the consecration, and not to begin it as in the
Roman canon and the first Liturgy of king Edward, so it was
judged most proper that in the restoration of Primitive usages,
the Primitive order should be observed, and the most Primitive
form of prayer also. It is true, the author of the Reasons, when
he first pleaded for the restoration of these usages, pleaded for
them as being contained in the first reformed Liturgy used in
this realm, thereby to shew that they were agreeable to the doc
trine taught by our own bishops at the Reformation. But he did
not plead for them as reformed, but as Primitive and Catholic
usages. And, therefore, when he or his friends were convinced
that it was necessary to restore those practices, they lay under
no obligation to restore them exactly according to that book,
which was but modern. And as they declared their value for

* No sufficient Reason, part ii. p. 85, 86.
2 K

250 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

that book no further than as it was more conformable to the Pri
mitive pattern than the present Liturgy of the Church of England,
so where they (bund it not agreeable to the Primitive patterns, as
it was not in the order wherein the invocation of the Holy Ghost
was placed, or in the words of that prayer, they chose rathei to
follow the best exemplar of the Apostolical form, as I have shewed
the Clementine Liturgy to be, than the modern form as placed in
that book. Though for peace sake, and if their brethren would
have agreed to the usage of the communion service as it stands
in that first book of king Edward, they would have complied with
it, and made no further alteration ; but that being refused, and
it being said that they could not deviate in an iota from the present
established Liturgy, those who were convinced that that Liturgy
was defective in the communion service, finding it necessary to
supply those defects, judged it most, proper to do it in the most
Primitive manner, by observing the same order of consecration
which they found in the most ancient and Catholic Liturgies both
of the east and west, where the oblation and invocation followed
the words of institution, and did not precede them, as in the
canon of the mass, and the first Liturgy of king Edward. But
the second objection is of greatest moment, and which, if it had
not been made, I should not have thought the other worth my
notice. It seems in this communion office, the words unto U8
are left out in the prayer of invocation in the communion office.
Now I confess those words are in the canon of the mass, and in
the first Liturgy of king Edward, which was plainly taken from
that canon, and differs very little from it, except in the Rubrics :
but they are in no other ancient Liturgy. For in all the Greek
and Eastern Liturgies, as well as in the Gallican, Gothic, and
Mosarabic Liturgies, which were the ancient Liturgies of the
Western Church before they gave place to the Roman canon,
there is no such word as nobis or unto us in this petition for the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon the elements ; they all, as has
been shewed, run in these words, Make, or let him make this
bread the body of thy Christ, and this cup the blood of thy
Christ, without any manner of restriction, and in as express
terms as are in this prayer, which this learned gentleman reflects
upon. Whether the cardinals, Du Perron, or Bellarmine, could
ever desire more, is a question not very difficult to answer. But
this is certain, and I have already proved it, that the cardinals,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 251

Bessarion, and Bona, and Arcudius, and Goar, as zealous tran
substantiators as either Du Perron or Bellarmine, have pleaded
as hard for those words UUtO U8 as this gentleman or any of his
friends can do. A sure argument that those words UUtO U8, did
not, in their opinion, in any wise tend to overthrow the doctrine
of transubstantiation, nor that the leaving them out did in any
measure tend to support that doctrine. I am persuaded this
learned answerer had not duly considered what advantage he
gives the zealous transubstantiators by maintaining such an
assertion, that to pray to God to send the Holy Ghost to make
this bread the body of Christ, and this cup the blood of Christ,
without restriction, is as much as they can desire. For this is as
much as to say, that all that use such a prayer maintain, or at
least countenance, the doctrine of transubstantiation, otherwise
the zealous transubstantiators can have no desire gratified by it.
If so, then they have a better argument for that doctrine than I
thought they had. They have the concurrent sense of the Primi
tive Church from the Apostles' days downwards, of the whole
Catholic Church, of all Churches but their own, (their's being
the only Church which has the restriction) both Eastern and
Western for eight hundred years at least, and of all the Greek
and Eastern Churches to this day, to countenance this their
absurd opinion. So that they must have Antiquity, Universality,
and Consent, to support the doctrine of transubstantiation, if the
objection here made against this prayer be of any weight. Where
as for my part I took the doctrine of transubstantiation to be
modern, first started and maintained by Paschasius in the ninth
century, when the Roman canon only had prevailed in all the
Churches of the west, and excluded those Liturgies in those parts
wherein this prayer was used in the form, and order, and words,
which this worthy person is pleased to condemn as teaching that
doctrine. But if to call the consecrated bread and wine the
body and blood of Christ, or to pray that they be made so by
consecration, is to teach the doctrine of transubstantiation, (and
if it be not, the objection is made to no purpose) then what shall
we say to our Saviour's own words, This is my body, This is my
blood, which were spoken by him without any restriction ? he
does not say, This is my body UUtO gfltt, This is my blood UtttO
gOtt* Cardinal Du Perron and Bellarmine, and the most zealous
transubstantiators, say, that they are as express as they can

t

252 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

desire, which is more than many of them have said of this prayer;
which, if they had thought so very much to their purpose as is
now pretended, they would not have been so zealous in the
Council of Florence to get an interpretation of it by the words
ttUtO US, the words which the learned answerer blames us Tor
leaving out. However I do not deny but they may prove tran-
substantiation from those words, Make this bread the body of
thy Christ, &c., just as they prove it from the words, This is my
body, &c., and no otherwise. And as Christ spoke those words
without any manner of restriction, so the Catholic Church in all
ages and places, where the canon of the mass has not prevailed,
have used the words of this prayer without restriction. For since
Christ himself has so expressly declared the consecrated bread
and cup to be his body and blood in most express terms without
limitation, I cannot see that the Church is to be blamed for
praying that it may be made that body and blood which Christ
called it, without adding any limitation thereto. For why should
we make a restriction in our prayers, where Christ himself hath
made none ? The same answer that is made to prove that our
Saviour's own words do not countenance the doctrine of transub-
stantiation, will prove that this prayer also gives no countenance
to it. For our Saviour's words always precede the prayer, (except
in the canon of the mass and king Edward's first Liturgy) and,
therefore, when we afterwards pray that the bread may be made
the body, and the cup the blood of Christ, we plainly shew that
we pray it may be made that body and blood which he appointed
it to be. Therefore these words cannot be charged with giving
countenance to transubstantiation, unless our Saviour's words do
likewise countenance that doctrine, for they follow our Saviour's
words, and are used with a plain reference to them, and the
meaning of the latter cannot be different from that of the former.
This anonymous gentleman, therefore, in order to bring an accu
sation against us, as if we were running into the very dregs of
popery, has unthinkingly given greater advantage to the Romanists
than, I am well assured, he intended. For he argues, that to call
the bread the body, and the cup the blood of Christ, or to pray
that they may be made so without adding' a restriction, is as
good an argument for transubstantiation as can be desired by the
most zealous maintainers of that opinion. These I confess are
not directly his words ; but if his words do not bear this sense

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 253

and meaning, they signify nothing. Now our Saviour himself
called the bread his body, and the cup his blood, and the most
Primitive Church, and the whole Catholic Church in all times
and places, for eight hundred years together, excepting Italy, (if
that may be excepted whilst it was Primitive, and before pope
Gregory had drawn up his sacramentary) did pray to God to
send the Holy Ghost to make this bread the body, and this cup
the blood of Christ, without any restriction ; therefore Christ
himself and the Catholic Church, not excepting the most Primi
tive, have given as good an argument for transubstantiation as
can be desired by the most zealous maintainers of that opinion.
And I freely own I shall think it no discredit to be thought as
much a favourer of that doctrine, as our Saviour and his Primitive
Catholic Church were. And I am sure no argument can affect
me, or any that approve of this prayer, with regard to transub-
stantialion, but it must also affect our Saviour himself and his
whole Church, even the most Primitive Ante-Nicene Church,
when I believe our learned antagonist himself will own that doc
trine and religion were most pure and uncorrupt. And yet in
order to asperse us as favourers of transubstantiation, and as
paving the way to downright popery, he unwarily makes our
Saviour himself and the Primitive Church to give countenance
to that doctrine. I say, this is plainly done in order to asperse
us as paving the way to popery. For having accused us of going
beyond the mass in favour of transubstantiation, even as far as
the most zealous transubstantiators could ever desire, (though
we have gone no further than the Primitive and Catholic Church
did in the earliest ages, of which I thought that a man of his
learning could not be ignorant) he proceeds and says : — There
being such an improvement already made, what may be sus
pected to follow in time ? or, who can undertake to promise
where these restorers will end at last ?

Now this improvement must mean that we have made an
alteration different from what the author of the "Reasons" has
proposed, and in another form than any which he had put down
in that little book ; for if it be no more than what he has there
expressly mentioned, there is no improvement, nothing different
from the first proposal : and this improvement, according to what
he has said before, must be in favour of transubstantiation. But
if there be really no improvement, nothing in this prayer which

254 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

was not fairly proposed before by the author of the " Reasons" in
that very book, then this is a very false suggestion. And that
there is no more in this prayer which this learned gentleman calls
an improvement, than what the author of the "Reasons" pleaded
to have restored, is most certain from that very book where he
has inserted this prayer, as what he thought proper to be restored.
The third passage, says he, to be restored, is the prayer for the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon the sacramental elements*
Then he gives us that prayer in the words of king Edward's first
Liturgy ; and immediately after in the words of the Clementine
Liturgy, the prayer which this learned gentleman calls an im
provement. He pleads that the prayer for the descent of the
Holy Ghost may be restored : but plainly shews, it is indifferent
to him whether it be done in the words of king Edward's Liturgy
or of any other, especially this, which he as particularly mentions
in the " Reasons" as he does the other. Nay, he is more par
ticular upon it, for he but barely cites the words of king Edward's
first Liturgy, but he enlarges upon the prayer as it is in the
Clementine Liturgy, saying, " This invocation for the descent of
the Holy Ghost to make the elements the body and blood of
Christ, being spoken at some distance after the words pronounced
by our Saviour at the institution ; it is plain, the author of the
' Apostolical Constitutions' did not believe the pronouncing the
words, This is my body, This is my blood, either trans or con-
substantiated the bread and wine: for if our Saviour had been
corporally present, either by changing the elements into his body
and blood, or united to them by consubstantiation ; if this effect
had followed upon pronouncing these words, This is my body,
fyc., to what purpose should the descent of the Holy Ghost have
been afterwards invoked, to make the elements the body and
blood of Christ ? To what purpose should this be done, when,
according to the " Trent Catechism," they were so already in the
most full and wonderful sense imaginable ?" Now from what he
before says concerning the antiquity of this prayer, and what he
here speaks of it, as so opposite to the doctrine of the Church of
Rome contained in the " Trent Catechism," it is evident that
he thought it preferable to that in king Edward's Liturgy ; and
that though he could be contented if the prayer for the descent

* Reasons, p. 22.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 255

of the Holy Ghost was restored as in that first English reformed
communion office, yet he would rather choose to have it restored
from the " Apostolical Constitutions." So that here is no im
provement made with regard to this prayer, it is the very same
in the new communion office with what it is in the " Reasons."
And this learned gentleman's zeal against that office has made
him forget the antiquity of this prayer, which he charges as
favouring transubstantiation, and so blinded him, that he could
not see that this very prayer was set down in the " Reasons," and
therefore could be no improvement of any thing there proposed.
The first time that 1 was so happy as to meet with this excellent
prayer, was in the reading bishop"Hickes's Christian Priesthood,"
where* he has given it us both in the original and in his own
translation. Then after a short account of the manner of admin
istering the holy sacrament according to the " Apostolical Con
stitutions," of which this prayer is a part, he immediately adds —
" This account of the eucharistical service is, as I have before
observed, most agreeable to the accounts we have of it, and
of the administration thereof, both in the first Apology of Justin
Martyr, and also to the doctrine of it in his Dialogue with

Tripho, and $ &o not tttwfot, font it (a most conformable to tfje

^rttttttifce atttt &£08t0ltcal fottn;* And I must confess, I little
thought that popery and transubstantiation would have been
found in a Primitive and Apostolical form, or in what bishop
Hickes judged to be so: for I arn verily persuaded, he was as
far from popery, or from believing transubstantiation, as any man
whatsoever, of which his excellent letters against popery are a
sufficient testimony. Much less could I think that any non-juror
(as this learned gentleman styles himself in his title page)
would have charged a prayer commended by him, as teaching
the doctrine of transubstantiation in as express terms as C. Du
Perron or Bellarmine, or any of the most zealous transubstantia-
tors could ever desire, and beyond what is used in their Canon of
the Mass. But what does he mean by beyond the Canon of the
Mass ? Does this prayer, or any rubric in the new communion
office, direct us to elevate the elements, and to worship them, as
the Canon of the Mass does ? How then does it go beyond it ?
Or indeed, how is it in any respect like it ? If he says that he

* Christian Priesthood asserted, p. 131., &c. 3d. edition.

256 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

speaks not of Rubrics, but only of prayers ; I answer, that the
prayers in the Canon of the Mass no more favour transubstan-
tiation, than the prayers in the established Liturgy of the Church
of England. The Canon of the Mass, generally speaking, is
very innocent and inoffensive as to the prayers, and does not
favour the superstitions and corruptions of the Church of Rome,
particularly in the point of transubstantiation, more than the
communion office of the Church of England, or of any other
Church that protests against that doctrine. For that Canon, as
to the prayers, was compiled at latest in the latter end of the
Sixth Century, by Pope Gregory the Great, above two hundred
years before transubstantiation was taught by Paschasius, and
has received little or no alteration since. But then superstitious
rubrics have been added for the elevation and adoration of the
host, and the absurd doctrine of the elements being changed ii>to
the very natural body and blood of Christ, which was born of the
Virgin Mary, and is now in heaven, is taught in their creed and
Catechism, and authorized and enjoined to be believed by the
highest authority of that Church. Therefore, if by the Canon of
the Mass he means the prayers alone without the Rubrics, I see
110 harm if the new form had been agreeable to it, as the first
Liturgy of kind Edward is, otherwise than it would not have been
so agreeable to purer antiquity, as I conceive it now is. For
though the Canon of the Mass has a terrible sound with it to
those that know nothing of it, yet read it without the rubrics, and
very little amiss will be found in it. It is here published in
English, and therefore i may fairly submit what I here assert to
the reader's judgment, without adding any thing more on that
occasion. And if we have chosen another prayer different from
what is in the Canon of the Mass., which this gentleman is
pleased to call going beyond that Canon, it has been only
because we believe that to be the more ancient form, and the
form more universally used than the other, which seems peculiar
to the Church of Rome ; all other Churches whatsoever that we
have any account of, whether orthodox or heretical, that were
before the Reformation, using this form as it stands in the new
communion office. But we pray that the bread may be made
the body, and the cup the blood of Christ, tottf)0ttt att£ manner
Of mtWttOlt. So did the ancient Churches, and so do all
Churches at this day, but the Roman and the Reformed : so did

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 257

our Saviour at the institution style it his body and blood without
restriction. But we pray that the Holy Ghost may make them
Christ's body and blood, which implies as if we expected some
extraordinary change to be made in the elements, requiring an
omnipotent power to produce it. And I freely confess, for my
own part, (and believe I may say the same for my brethren in
communion with me) that I do believe so. But I believe no
tran substantiation.

I do not believe the bread and wine to be annihilated, and the
substance of them, the accidents remaining, to be changed into
the natural body and blood of Christ, which was born of the
Virgin Mary, suffered on the cross, and is now in heaven, which
is the doctrine of the Church of Rome : neither do I believe with
the Lutherans, that the substance of the bread and wine remaining,
the very individual body and blood of Christ is by a certain ubi
quity so united and incorporated with them, as to be eaten and
drunk by the faithful in the Lord's supper. Neither do I believe
with the Calvinists, that the body and blood of Christ, which are
now in heaven, are sacramentally, or in an inconceivable manner,
united to the bread and wine, so as to be received together with
them by the faith of the communicants. But I do believe the
bread and wine to be the only body and blood appointed to be
received in the holy eucharist. And I believe them to be made
his sacramental flesh and blood, that is, the full and perfect re
presentative of his body and blood, his very body and blood in
power and effect : that very body and blood which he spake of,
when he said : — " Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and 1 will raise
him up at the last day."* Mr. Johnson, to whom 1 refer the
reader, t has proved these words, and all belonging to them in the
same chapter, to refer to the flesh and blood of Christ in the holy
eucharist, and that that flesh and blood are the bread and wine
there given and received. And I believe that the Holy Ghost
descends upon them and rests in them, not barely to sanctify
them or separate them to an holy use, but to infuse in them a
quickening virtue to nourish and feed our bodies and souls unto
eternal life. And, therefore, I think it necessary, whenever I re-

* John vi. 53, 54.

f Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 251. &c.
2 L

258 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

ceive or administer this holy sacrament, to desire God to send
down his Holy Spirit, that he may make the bread the body of
Christ^ and the cup the blood of Christ. Nor do I see any
occasion to make any restriction in that case ; for being then
celebrating that sacrament, the meaning is plain and obvious,
that I understand thereby the sacramental body and blood of
Christ ; that body and blood which he gave to his disciples, when
he said, Take, eat, this is my body, &c., without any restriction.
And what authority have we to put a restriction where Christ
himself has put none ? does the Established Church, or any
Church in the world, put a restriction upon the words, body and
blood, in their consecration prayer ? why then should we ? Why
should that be charged as a fault in us, which is so charged in
no other communion ? St. Chrysostom's Liturgy, after having
said, Make this bread the precious body of thy Christ, and this
cup the precious blood of thy Christ, adds, changing
t!)g ?#0l£ S&trtt Which cardinal Bona translates,
Btauttattng them by lliy Holy Spirit. So ready are some per
sons to find out transubstantiation, where no such thing was
meant or thought of ; for though there be a change made in the
elements, there is no transubstantiation ; for there was no such
thing or word known in the days of St. Chrysostom, or whenso
ever that Liturgy, used in the Greek Church at Constantinople,
was composed. Mr. Johnson has proved this very plainly from
St. Chrysostom's words, which I shall, therefore, give as cited by
that learned gentleman. " St. Chrysostom, in his homily on the
llth. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, v. 16, 17.,
says, That the Apostle speaks so as to make us believe and
tremble ; for what he says is this, that what is in the cup
is that which Jioived from our Saviours side, and of that we
partake. And he adds not far from the same place, After he
had spoken of the communion of the body, and because that
which partakes is different from the thing it partakes of, he
takes away the distinction, though it seem but a small one.
Having spoken of the communion of the body, he endeavoured
to say something that was yet more close still ; wherefore he
adds, we being many, are one bread and one body ; for (says
the Apostle) why do I speak of communion ? we are that very
body. For what is the bread ? says the Apostle : The body of
Christ. What are the partakers ? The body of Christ ; not

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 259

many bodies, but one body. In which words as he speaks
decisively against the Church of Rome, not only in making
bread the body of Christ, but likewise in making the sacramental
body to consist of the members as well as of the head ; so he is
very express, that in the eucharistical bread and wine we receive
the body of Christ Jesus more than in a type or figure. For what
is there in a type, to make a man tremble ? And he makes the
communion to be the eucharistical body and blood, and not our
declaration. And I am the more confirmed in this exposition of
St. Chrysostom, when 1 consider that St. Irenseus understands
the body and blood in this text to be the bread and wine conse
crated for this purpose : for speaking to those heretics, who
vilified the creation, and would not allow it to be the workman
ship of the good God and father ; Then, says he, neither will the
cup of the eucharist be the communication of his bloody nor the
bread which we break the communication of his body. And in
another place, How could our Lord, in common justice, take
that bread, which is, according to our doctrine, a part of the
creation, and declare it to be his body, if he be the Son of ano
ther Father ? And affirm the mixt cup to be his blood ?
Ignatius himself (who was contemporary to divers of the Apostles)
supposes the eucharist to be the body of Christ, which suffered
for our sins, and was raised from the dead." * " But," says he
a little after, " though the ancients believed the bread and wine
in the eucharist, to be the body and blood ; yet they did not
believe that they were the natural or substantial body and blood,
but that they were so in a spiritual manner, in power and effect :
so that the bread and wine are not the body and blood in them
selves considered, nor merely by their representing or resembling
the body and blood, but by the inward visible power of the Holy
Spirit, by which the sacramental body and blood are made as
powerful and effectual for the ends of religion, as the natural
body itself could be, if it was present : and it is on this account
that it is called Christ's spiritual and mysterious body, as being
discerned to be what it is by the inward not the outward eye ;
by our faith, our minds, and spirits, not our senses. And this,
when proved, is a full answer to the objections above mentioned ;
for though bread and wine, abstractedly considered, are indeed

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 174.

260 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

weak elements ; yet when enriched with the special presence and
invisible operations of the Spirit, they are very efficacious and
beneficial : though bread and wine in themselves can be no more
than figures, yet when the Holy Ghost has blessed and sanctified
them, they are in power and effect to us the very same, that tl*e
archetypes could be : and though we cannot apprehend this by
our taste or sight, yet we may by our reason, informed by a right
faith."* This doctrine Mr. Johnson has very well and fully
proved in his book, both from Scripture and the testimony of the
fathers, to which I, therefore, refer the reader, and it is a doctrine,
which as he, by solid and unanswerable arguments, proved to be
a true doctrine, so it is intirely inconsistent with transubstantia-
Jion. For the sacramental, representative body, that which is
the body only energetically, or in power and effect, cannot be the
individual natural body. Nevertheless there is a great change
made in the elements, a change that requires an Omnipotent
power to effect it ; for a less power cannot infuse such a virtue
into weak elements, and make that which, in its own nature, can
only nourish the body and preserve its life a while in this world,
become the food of eternal life. Man may, indeed, consecrate or
dedicate bread and wine to God, and set them before him, or
offer them in remembrance of Christ's death, or a testimony of
his firm belief of it : but man cannot infuse any quickening or
life-giving virtue into those symbols, and yet without that virtue
, they can profit him but little. For, as our Saviour says, speaking
concerning his body and blood in the eucharist, " It is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." f If, therefore, this
quickening Spirit, the Holy Ghost, be not present to be received
by us with the bread and wine to communicate to them a quick
ening power, the bare elements can profit us nothing. Though
they may be symbols or representatives of Christ's body, or bare
types, (as under the Jewish dispensation there were many types
of Christ) they cannot be his body and blood in power and effect,
and convey to us all the benefits purchased by the breaking of
his body and the shedding of his blood, by the resurrection of his
body and ascension into heaven.

We therefore, (as the whole Catholic Church has done from the
Apostles' days to the Reformation) think it necessary to pray to

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 177. f John vi. 63.

THE PRECEDING LITU11GIES. 261

God on this occasion to send down his Holy Spirit, the witness
of the passion of our Lord Jesus, upon this sacrifice, that he
may make this bread the body of his Christ, and this cup the
blood of his Christ, because without this Spirit our Saviour has
taught us, that even his own flesh cannot profit us. And if we
had added, Changing it by thy Holy Spirit, as it is in St. Chry-
sostom's Liturgy, we could very well, as I have shewed, have
cleared those words from teaching the doctrine of trausubstantia-
tion. But as they are peculiar to that one Liturgy, we had no
regard to them, resolving in this particular to use this prayer in
the most Primitive and universal form, that no one might condemn
us for it, without at the same time condemning the most Primi
tive and Catholic Church ; and to be condemned in such company
will never afflict us. But the learned author of " No Sufficient
Reason" tells us, that " the consecration has been anciently held
to consist in the words of institution. Tertullian is as express
for it as can be. Having taken the bread, and distributed it
to his disciples, he made it his body, fog BajHrtg, tfjtS IS tttg
bOfcl), Here I would ask any opponent; could it have been
more fully expressed, supposing the consecration really to consist
in the words of institution ? If it could, let it be shewn. But if
that cannot be done, the conclusion is inevitable, that according
to Tertullian's doctrine, our words of consecration are all that
can be said to be necessary to that purpose." * Now though I
have already answered this passage of Tertullian in answer to
cardinal Bona, who makes the same objection, yet it may not be
amiss to take notice of it again here as it is revived and urged by
this learned gentleman. He also urges the testimony of St.
Augustine, who says, "/ have told you that before Christ's
words (of institution \) what is offered is called bread; but
after the pronunciation of those words, is no longer called
bread, but is named the body. Here St. Augustine teaches the
bread to receive the effect of consecration, upon our Lord's words
being pronounced over it. And if this was true doctrine then, it
must be so now ; and by consequence, our learned author's
objections against the sufficiency of our Liturgy in this respect,
must vanish." Now I might answer our author in his own words,
and tell him that Tertullian and St. Augustine were African

* No sufficient Reason, p. 120.

262 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

lathers, " who whatsoever tradition they might follow in Africa,
it can never be proved that their practice in that part of the
world could make it universal."* For if this be a good argument
against us in one case, I see not why it should not be a good
argument for us in another : especially since in this case, sup
posing his citations proved what he thinks they do, we have the
authority of all other Churches expressly against them, as appear
from their Liturgies ; but he has no authority of any other
Church, or so much as one single father, against their testimony
in the other case, where he thinks it a sufficient answer to say
the tradition of Africa cannot make it universal. But we have
no occasion for such a shift in the case before us : the passages
he cites do not prove this point. For Tertullian does not say
that the priest makes the bread Christ's body by reciting these
words of Christ, but that Christ himself made them his body by
saying, This is my body. And this is confessed by all ; for if
Christ had not said those words, This is my body, we could never
have known or believed bread to be his body, or the figure or
type of his body, as Tertullian afterwards explains himself.
And if I was disposed to cavil, I might say as he has done to us,
How comes he to cite STertttlltatt, as saying f)0 matt* ft i) 18
fcoftg without restriction, in as express terms as C. Du Perron
or Bellarmine, or any of the most zealous transubstantialors
could ever desire, when Tertullian himself has added a Limita
tion in the very next words, saying, that is, the figure of his
body. Whereas we left out nothing in that prayer which he so
severely reflects upon us for, but put it down just as we found it
in the most ancient Liturgy of the Catholic Church. But God
be praised, our cause has no need of such artifices to prejudice a
reader. Christ, as Tertullian says, made the bread his body, by
saying, This is my body, that is, he gave us his word to satisfy
us, that bread so blessed and consecrated as that was which he
gave his disciples, was made the type or figure of his body.
Consequently those words of Christ, as spoken by him at that
time, not only made the bread which he then blessed and broke,
and gave to his disciples, to be his body, but have also made all
bread which has been so blessed, and broken and distributed
according to his institution, to be his body ever since. And all

* No Reason, p. 61.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 263

that have undertaken to prove the euchavistical bread to be
Christ's body, taking the word body either in the sense of the
Primitive Church, or of the Church of Rome, or of the Lutherans,
or of the Calvinists, they have no other proof for it but these
words of Christ, Take, eat, this is my ftottg* Therefore by these
words at that time spoken by him, he made the bread his body
both when he gave it to his disciples, and ever since when it is
administered according to his ordinance : consequently Tertullian
has very truly said, that he made the bread his body, by samng,
2Tf)t8 18 mg footfj) : for if he had not said the words, This is my
body, and so made it his sacramental or representative body, his
very body in power and effect, no other power could have made
it so. But this is very far from saying, that the whole consecra
tion consists in the reciting or pronouncing those words, as this
learned gentleman pretends they do, when he says, Could it have
been more fully expressed, supposing the consecration really to
consist in the words of institution ? For Tertullian is riot here
speaking any thing concerning the form of consecration. He is
arguing against Marcion an heretic, who denied Christ to have a
real body : to confute which opinion, he brings this as a demon
strative argument ; Having taken the bread, and distributed it
to his disciples, he made it his body, by saying, TJris is my body,
that is, the figure of my body. But it could not have been a
figure, if there had not been a body of a truth : * or, if he had
not had a real body. But what is this to the words of consecra
tion ? It is, as he intended it, a good argument against Marcion,
that Christ had a real body, because he made bread the type,
figure, or representative of his body, and he could not make a
true type, figure, or representative of that which had no being.
Consequently since he made the figure of his body, by saying,
This is my body, it is certain Christ had a body. This is the
sole design for which Tertullian produces the words. And there
are no other words in the whole Scripture, by which it can be
proved, that our Saviour did make the figure of his body. But
the conclusion is not therefore inevitable, that, according to
Tertullian 's doctrine, our words of consecration are all that
can be said to be necessary to that purpose. That father only

* Acceptum panem &, distributum discipulis, corpus suum ilium fecit, hoc est
corpus meum dicendo, id est figura corporis. Figura autem non fuisset, nisi
veritatis esset corpus. Contr. Marc. I. 4. c. 40.

A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

shews, that those words of Christ make the bread, when rightly
and duly consecrated, to be the body of Christ ; but he by no
means teaches, that the recital of those words is the form of con
secration, which is the point they are brought to prove. These
words, it is confessed, are the Word of God, and it is by the
Word of God that whatever he has appointed or ordained, is
sanctified or consecrated to us. But then it is by that word
spoken originally by himself, and not as recited by man. Thus,
for instance, every thing that is proper for food, is sanctified for
the use of man by the Word of God, and was so sanctified by
him when he said to Adam, and afterwards to Noah, Behold, I
have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face
of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a
tree yielding seed: to you it shall be for meat. And the fear
of yon and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the
earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth
upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea ; into your
hand are they delivered. Every moving thing shall be meal
for you: even as the green herb have I given you all things.*
Thus the Word. of God has sanctified all creatures proper for
food to be food for man. And without this sanctification by the
Word of God, they could not have been food for us to preserve
our life. For, as our Saviour has said, It is written, man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. t But then it is by this Word of God as
spoken by himself, and not as recited or pronounced by us, that
this sanctification is made. Nevertheless, prayer is also required
of us to make this food good and truly beneficial to us. The
Word of God has made it food for us, and by virtue of that word
once spoken by God, it will nourish us, and preserve our life,
though we never recite or pronounce it, nay, though we know it
not. For Heathens and Infidels are nourished by their meat and
drink, though they either know or believe nothing of that Word
which has made those creatures for that purpose. But then it is
not fully sanctified to them, nor does it preserve their lives to
a beneficial use, as the food of Christians does, which is farther
sanctified by prayer. For St. Paul says, Every creature of God
is good, and nothing to be refused, if it fc* meitoB fcftfc

Gen. i. 29. ; ix. 2, 3. f Matth. iv. 4. ; Deut. viii. 3.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 265

Which implies, that without such thanksgiving,
it is not good. For it is sanctified by the Word of God atttl
prag£V» Not by the Word of God only, but by prayer also.

But though our common food, according to St. Paul's doctrine?
is not sufficiently sanctified by the word of God only, but requires
thanksgiving or prayer to be added by us to consecrate it for our
use, }et it seems, according to this learned gentleman's doctrine,
the eucharistical bread, the bread of life, which is of far more
value, and therefore requires a more solemn consecration, is suffi
ciently consecrated, not by the words of Christ as spoken by
himself, but by those words as recited or pronounced by the
priest, without any prayer or thanksgiving. And for this he
produces the authority of Tertullian, who says not a word of what
is to be said by the priest, but only of what was said originally
by Christ. And nobody denies, but that original word of Christ
does make that bread to become his body, which is also sanctified
or consecrated by thanksgiving and prayer, and offered to God in
remembrance of him in the manner he has appointed. 13 ut then
we say, that this is done by virtue of that word once spoken by
Christ himself, and not merely by virtue of that word recited by
the priest in the form of consecration There we say, that prayer
and thanksgiving are at least as necessary as St. Paul teaches us,
that they are for the sanctification or consecration of our daily
food. Neither will Tertullian's words prove any thing more, not
withstanding this learned gentleman is pleased to urge them as a
demonstration for that purpose. But if Tertullian's words will
not prove the point for which this learned gentleman -produces
them, St. Augustine's surely will. For he says expressly : — That
before Christ's words, wha{ is offered is called bread ; but after
the pronunciation of Christ's words, it is no longer called bread,
but is named the body. Here it cannot be said, that he refers
us to the words of Christ, as spoken by himself at the time of the
institution, but to those words as recited by the priest at the con
secration as celebrated in the Church. But still this is not saying
that the consecration is performed by the recital of those wrords
alone : the most that it implies is, that those words might con
clude the form of consecration in the African Church, as they do
in the Roman Canon, and in the first Liturgy of king Edward VI.,

* i Tim. iv. 4,5.
2 M

266 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

yet it does by no means imply, that the African Church, or even
St. Augustine himself, believed the whole form of the consecration
to consist in the priest's pronouncing those words. For it is cer
tain, St. Augustine himself believed the consecration to be made
by prayer, and the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost, as lie
plainly teaches, when he says : — We call that only the body and
blood of Christ, which being taken out of the fruits of the earth,
atttl COnStCtatetl bv a ttt^SttCal pt*a»cr, is rightly received by
us for our spiritual health in remembrance of our Lor d^s passion
for us, which when it is brought by the hands of men into that
visible shape, IS UOt SattCttftcU, that it should be made so great

a sacrament, font fcj> tljc wfotstWc iteration of tfjc i#olj>
<SJ0St.* Therefore, unless we would make St. Augustine to
contradict himself, we cannot understand him to mean what this
learned author would infer from his words, that the bread receives
the effect of consecration, barely upon our Lord's words being
pronounced over it.

It may perhaps be said, that though St. Augustine and the
Church of Africa might believe the consecration to be made by
the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost, yet it does not thence
follow, that they thought an invocation necessary for that purpose,
but might believe, that upon pronouncing the words of institution,
the operation of the Holy Ghost most certainly followed, whether
they prayed for it or not. And if this was trite doctrine then, it
must be so now, as this author argues from the words he has
cited from St. Augustine. Now having no Liturgy of the African
Church now extant, unless the Mosarabic Liturgy (as it is highly
probable) was so, it might be difficult to give a direct answer to
such an objection. But as this invocation is not only in the
Mosarabic Liturgy, which we have great reason to believe was
that which was used in Africa, but we have also the testimony of
Optatus (an African father, somewhat elder than St. Augustine)
to assure us that this invocation was used in that Church, such
an objection can be of no weight. Now he, writing against the

* Corpus Christ! & sanguinem dicimus illud tantum, quod ex frugibns terra?
acceptum, & prece mystica consecratum rite sumimus ad salutem spirituaiera in
memoriam pro nobis Dominica? passionis, quod cum per manus horninum ad
illatn visibilem speciem perducitur, non sanctificatur, nt sit tarn magnum sacra-
mentum, nisi operante invisibiliter spiritu sancto. August. Tom. viii. De Trini-
tttte, 1. :J. o. 4. p. 798.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 2(>7

Donatists, (a sect that was confined to Africa, who sometimes
forcibly oppressed the Catholics, pulled down their altars, broke
their consecrated vessels, and committed many other outrages)
and speaking of their pulling down altars, says: — Where the
Almighty God is invoked, and wit ere the Holy Spirit, ilCtUQ
r£gtttr£&> descends* And 1 am persuaded, they did not believe
that the descent of the Holy Ghost was without any effect, or
that they prayed to the Father to send his Holy Spirit upon the
bread and the cup, to make them the body and blood of Christ,
and that they did also believe that the Holy Ghost did actually
descend according to the tenor of this prayer, not upon the people
only, but upon the elements lying on the altar, and yet believe
that this descent contributed nothing to the consecration, but all
was performed by the priest's recital of the words of Christ. Nay,
St. Augustine himself, whose testimony is brought to prove that
the recital of those words gives to the bread the effect of conse
cration, tells us expressly, that it is sanctified or consecrated by
the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost.

However, had Tertullian and St. Augustine been plainly of our
author's side in this matter, the opinion or testimony of two sin
gle fathers, though of considerable weight in a matter where they
are not contradicted by any other, yet are of no weight at all
where they assert any thing contrary to the doctrine of the whole
Church, as it appears from all the Liturgies of the Church that
this opinion is which this author so zealously defends, and from
the opinion and testimony of all the other fathers of the Church,
as Mr. Johnson has proved, to whom therefore I refer the reader.
But I trust I have proved, that neither of these two fathers have
asserted or did maintain what the author of " No sufficient Rea
son," &c. pretends they did. In a word, this I conceive is
manifest from the testimony of the fathers cited by Mr. Johnson
on this occasion, and from the Liturgies here published, that the
universal Church from the Apostles' days downwards to the
Reformation, always used to recite the words of institution, to
offer the elements to God as the sacramental body and blood of
his Son, with a thankful remembrance of his death, and then to
desire and pray for the descent of the Holy Ghost, to make the
elements the body and blood of Christ in power and effect, as

* Quo Dens oinnipotens invocatus sit, quo postulating dcsccndit spiritus suite
tus. Optat. advert*. Parincn. lib, 6. in Bibliothec, Pair. Tom ir. it. 280.

268 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

having been taught by our Saviour himself, that " it is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing," * and that they be
lieved that every one of these contributed to the consecration,
which, as St. Augustine says, was sanctified by the invisible
operation of the Holy Ghost, who being prayed for, as Optatus
says, was believed to descend upon the elements. Therefore, in
their opinion, neither the words of institution, or oblation, or in
vocation, could be omitted, but it made an essential defect in the
form of consecration.

Concerning the necessity of reciting the words of institution,
there is no dispute betwixt us and our adversaries ; they hold it
to be necessary, that those words should be recited as well as we.
The oblation, with the thankful remembrance of Christ's death,
which acccompanies it in all the ancient Liturgies, is expressly
commanded in those words, Do, or offer this in remembrance of
me; and is therefore necessary, because so expressly enjoined:
and the invocation for the descent of the Holy Ghost is no less
necessary, because without his descent and invisible operation in
and with the sacred elements, they can be of no benefit to us ;
for our Lord himself teaches us, that " it is the spirit that quick
eneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. Every one of these particulars
being therefore essentially necessary to the due consecration of
the eucharist, and the oblation and invocation being so apparently
laid aside in the present communion office of the Church of
England, as any one must be convinced who compares that office
with the Clementine or any other Liturgy here published, those
are not to be blamed who endeavour to supply these defects in
the best manner they are able, by following the most ancient
Liturgies in these points, whatever be the consequence. For as
the learned author of " No Reason," &c. says very well : — " If
these things are an essential part of religion, and of absolute
necessity to salvation, in this case, no fear of its consequences
must dissuade from nor can justify the refusal of it ; but each one
must faithfully discharge his duty, and leave the event to God's
all-wise providence, which over-rules all things, and can easily
cause them to work together for good to them that love him." t
And Mr. Johnson observes : — " Though when some assevt truth,
and others contradict it, divisions must of necessity be the effect;

* John vi. 63. f No Reason, &r., p. 80.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 269

yet the asseriers in this case cannot but believe, that as their
cause is right, so the divine providence, will not permit such
divisions to be lasting : for great is the tttttf), and will prevail,
even against the most powerful opponents. In a word, the wri
ters for the oblation and invocation may be impleaded as the
ring-leaders of division and faction ; but then this accusation
may with as good reason be laid against them who write for the
necessity of episcopacy in Scotland, or who contend for the
Liturgy in the vulgar tongue in Spain or Italy." *

§ 19. As soon as this prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost
is concluded, the Clementine Liturgy adds a prayer for the whole
Catholic Church, from one end of the world unto the other ; in
which prayer all the other Liturgies agree with it in sense,
though not in words. Only the Liturgy of St. Mark and the
Roman Canon, and the first Liturgy of king Edward VI. which
follows that Canon in this, as in most other points, use this
prayer before the consecration of the elements. And the present
communion office of the Church of England, following herein the
Roman Canon, has appointed a prayer for the whole state of
Christ1 s Church^ preceding her form of consecration. So there
is no question concerning the necessity of such a prayer to be
used at this time as a testimony of our communion with the
whole Catholic Church of Christ; neither does the order in
which this prayer may be used on this occasion, whether before
or after the oblation, make any essential difference, though
certainly it is most proper after the oblation, as it is in all the
Liturgies but the Roman and that of St. Mark, and in the
Ethiopic taken from St. Mark's, and in the first of Edward the
VI. taken from the Roman. I shall only observe, that the
Roman Canon, has part of this intercession following the con
secration, as well as before it ; and where a custom or general
practice is to be proved, a majority in the number of witnesses is
of considerable weight; and we are now enquiring into the
general practice of the Church, and one or two exceptions are not
sufficient to overthrow a general rule: and that it is also the
more ancient practice, is evident from the Clementine Liturgy,
the best exemplar of the traditional Liturgy taught by the

* Prefatory Epistle to Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 22.

270 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Apostles, and used in all Churches before stated forms were
written for the use of particular provinces. The reason of the
thing also pleads for the putting the prayer for all estates and
conditions of men after the consecration ; for as it is one general
end of sacrifice, and of this eucharistical sacrifice in particular,
to render our prayers more effectual,* as Mr. Johnson has
shewed, it is certainly most proper, that the sacrifice or oblation
should be first offered, and that prayer should be made whilst it
lies upon the altar, and is already dedicated to God. So that we
have antiquity, universality, and consent, for praying for all
estates and conditions of men whenever we offer the Christian
sacrifice, which may satisfy us that such prayer is necessary at
that time ; and we have the more ancient and general practice of
the Church, and the reason of the thing also, to satisfy us that it
is most proper, at least, that this prayer should be made after the
consecration, and not before it: which is sufficient to justify
those, who having found it necessary to compile a new commu
nion office for their own use, have judged it expedient so to place
this prayer ; though they would not have altered the old office
merely for the sake of such a transposition. But there is another
material point to be considered in this prayer; for in it, as it
stands in the Clementine Liturgy, and in all the other Liturgies
here published, that is, in the Liturgies of the Universal Church,
not excepting any one Church before the Reformation, there is a
petition for the faithful departed. In the Clementine Liturgy it
runs thus : " We also offer to thee for all saints that have done
what is pleasing to thee from the beginning of the world, patri
archs, prophets, righteous men, apostles, martyrs, confessors,
bishops, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, virgins,
widows, lay-men, and for all whose names thou knowest." In
St. James's Liturgy, the priest having prayed, that " we may find
mercy and favour with all thy saints, who from the beginning of
the world have pleased thee in their generations, even with our
fathers and forefathers, with the patriarchs, prophets, apostles,
martyrs, confessors, teachers, and saints, and every just spirit
departed in the faith of Christ;" then adds, "Remember, O
Lord, thou God of all spirits and of all flesh, the faithful whom
we have now commemorated, or whom we have not mentioned,

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 2, p. 30, 31. 124, 125.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 271

from righteous Abel unto this day. Make them to rest in the
region of thy kingdom, in the delights of paradise, in the bosom
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our holy fathers : where there is
no sorrow, grief, and lamentation, and where the light of thy
countenance continually shines upon them." St. Mark's Liturgy: ~~7
" Give rest, O Lord God, to the souls of our fathers and brethren
who are before laid to sleep, remembering from the beginning of
the world our forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles,
martyrs, confessors, bishops, saints, just men, and every spirit
departed in the faith of Christ, and those whose memory we this
day celebrate, and our holy father Mark the Apostle and Evange- /
list, who shewed unto us the way of salvation." St. Chrysostom's
Liturgy : " We offer unto thee this reasonable service, for those
who sleep in Christ, forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, continent
persons, and every spirit departed in the faith of Christ." St. S
Basil's Liturgy, as used in the Constantinopolitan Church :
" Remember all who are before gone lo sleep, in hope of the
resurrection to eternal life, and give them rest, O Lord, where the
light of thy countenance shines upon them." The Liturgy of
St. Basil, used in the Alexandrian Church : " Vouchsafe to
remember, O Lord, those who have pleased thee from the begin
ning of the world, the holy fathers, patriarchs, apostles, prophets,
preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and every just spirit
departed in the faith of Christ. Give rest to all their souls in the
bosoms of our holy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Lead
them, and put them into a green place upon the waters of rest,
in the paradise of pleasure, where is no grief, or sadness, or
groaning, in the light of thy holy saints. Give rest, O Lord, in
that place to the souls of them W7hom thou hast taken to thyself,
and vouchsafe to translate them to thy heavenly kingdom." The ""I
Ethiopic Liturgy : " Be merciful, O Lord, to the souls of thy ser
vants, and of thine handmaids, who have eaten thy body, and
drank thy blood, and received rest in thy faith." And again,
" Give rest also to our fathers and brethren that are asleep and
departed in the orthodox faith." Yet again, " Be merciful to us,
and to all those that are at rest ; thou who hast sent thy Son
born of a Virgin." Once more, " Remember, O Lord, all those
that are asleep and at rest in the faith of Christ, and gather their
souls into the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The J

272

A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Liturgy of Nestorius : " We also pray and beseech thee, O Lord,
that thou wouldest at this oblation remember the fathers, patri
archs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, teachers, bishops,
priests, deacons, and all who have been partakers of our ministry
that are departed this life, and all our brethren in Christ who are
gone out of this world in the true faith, whose names thou
knowest; loosing and remitting to them all their sins and iniqui
ties, through the prayer and intercession of those who have done
what is pleasing in thy sight." The Liturgy of Severus : " Re
member also, O Lord, those who have been famous before thee
from the beginning, the fathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, con
fessors, John the Baptist, Stephen the Deacon, the holy mother
of God, and all pious and just men. Remember, 0 Lord, all
bishops and doctors, who have stood in thy Church, and fed thy
spiritual sheep with their doctrine, and have converted unto thee
those that were gone astray ; but especially St. James the chief
of bishops, and other the holy fathers. O Shepherd and Giver
of divine wisdom, bless with the light of thy countenance the
wise men and messengers of the true faith, the lights and stars
which have enlightened the people that sat in darkness, the
founders of thy holy Church, the interpreters of thy chosen divine
Word, the guides of the flock bought with the precious blood of
thy only begotten Son. To the souls, and bodies, and spirits of
all those, who out of flesh and blood are come to thee, O Lord of
all flesh, give rest in the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
in the paradise of pleasure, in the place of rest, and in the taber
nacles of the saints ; where is a multitude of those who celebrate
a most eminent feast; where is the perfection of life without
troubles, and the first fruits of ineffable promises : of the consum
mation whereof make them worthy, not imputing to them all their
sins, nor entering into judgment with thy servants, because in
thy sight shall no flesh be justified." The Roman Canon : " Re
member also, O Lord, thy servants and thine handmaids who are
gone before us with the sign of faith, and sleep in the sleep of
peace. Grant unto them, we beseech thee, O Lord, and to all
that are at rest in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace,
through the same Christ our Lord. Amen." The first Liturgy of
king Edward VI. " W"e commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all
other thy servants, which are departed hence from us with the
sign of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace : grant unto

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 273

them, we beseech thee, thy mercy and everlasting peace, and that
at the general resurrection, we and all they that be of the mystical
body of thy Son, may altogether be set on his right hand, and hear
that his most joyful voice :— Come unto me, O ye that be blessed
of my Father, and possess the kingdom, which is prepared for you
from the beginning of the world. Grant this, O Father, for Jesus
Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate." Thus there is
an universal consent and harmony in all these Liturgies ; not one
of them has omitted prayer for the dead in their prayer at the
altar for all estates and conditions of men : though in other
particulars, as to this very prayer, there be a variety, some of
them bringing the Ave Maria into it, and others seeming to
invocate her and other saints, of which I may take notice when I
come to consider each Liturgy distinctly, and examine their
interpolations. But here there is an unanimous harmony and
consent, all praying for those dead which have died in the Lord,
and are at rest from their labours. That it is also of Primitive'
antiquity, and was used before the Council of Nice, till which
time, and after, the governors of the Church * of England have
declared that doctrine and religion were most pure, f has been
proved by the learned author of the " Reasons for Restoring," &c.
from the testimony of Tertullian toward the end of the Second
Century, and of St. Cyprian in the middle of the Third : and the
testimony of all these Liturgies may be sufficient to convince us
that it was an universal practice, notwithstanding the learned
author of " No Reason for Restoring," &c. would confine this
practice to the Church of Africa, for the three first Centuries at
least. And I have formerly shewed, " That it is commanded in
Scripture, though not so fully and clearly as some other things
yet as clearly as some other things which the author of ' No'
Reason,' &c. and 'No Sufficient Reason,' allows to be com
manded there, and particularly infant baptism. It stands on
the same foot as to the lawfulness of it; for, as that learned
gentleman says of infant baptism, J so we say of prayer for the
dead, that this practice has no opposition to any part of Scrip,
ture. Then as to the necessity of it, he gives this reason, that

* Strype's Life of Archbishop Whitgift, p. 98.

f Reasons, p. 1 1., &c. No Reason, p. 59. 64. No Sufficient Reason, Part I.
p. 7.

{ No Sufficient Reason, p. 26.
2 N

274 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

our blessed Saviour gave commission for baptizing all nations,
of which children are undoubtedly a part. And the practice of
the Church since is a good corroborating evidence, and makes
the necessity more apparent and unquestionable. Now this is
exactly what is pleaded for prayers for the dead. The Scripture
positively requires to make supplication for all saints.* The
words all saints being as universal as the words all nations;
this command as necessarily obliges us to pray for all saints,
whether they be in this world, or whether they be departed, as
the other does to baptize ail persons of ail ag£8 : for I suppose
neither this learned gentleman, or any of his friends, will deny
the faithful departed to be saints "-\- This 1 published some
time ago, but find since that I was mistaken in my supposition,
though I had shewed in that very book, " that we are assured
that there are dead saints as well as living ones by the Scriptures
themselves, J as well as by the common language of the Church
in all ages." || For this learned gentleman in a book published
some time after that treatise of mine, says, " Though the word
"Ayioi, saints, be frequently used in the New Testament, to denote
the members of the Christian Church here, I dare be positive he
will not find it so applied to those that are departed from ws." §
I was much surprised at this passage, because I really supposed
that learned gentleman to have been better acquainted with the
Scriptures, than such an assertion as this shews him to have
been : for there are a dozen texts at least in the New Testament,
where the word^Aytot is applied to those that are departed from
us; though I confess, it is not always rendered by the word
saints in our translation : which, perhaps, might give occasion to
the mistake ; though the word saints so applied is in more places
than one in the English New Testament. But the English
Version could be no rule to the Catholic Church ; and therefore
if we find the word"Aytoi at least a dozen times applied to those
that are departed from us, we may be satisfied that the Catholic
Church had good ground from Scripture to pray for the "Aytot,
the saints departed, when they were commanded to pray for all
saints. I will therefore produce the texts, and then leave the
reader to judge, whether this learned author has not been guilty

* Eph, vi. 18. f Postscript to Necessity of Tradition, &c., p. 178., &c.

} Matt, xxvii. 52. || Ibid. p. 197.

§ No Sufficient Reason, Part II. p. 3.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 275

of a very great rashness in daring to be positive in a matter so
apparently false. The first is the text I formerly referred to,
Matt, xxvii. 52. And many bodies of SAINTS WHICH SLEPT, arose.
The original is KeKot/x^eVwv aytW. The second, Luke i. 70.
As he spake by the mouth of his HOLY PROPHETS WHICH HAVE

BEEN SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. The Original is, T&v uyut)V r&v

O.TT al&voQ Trpotyrjrwv. The third, Acts iii. 21. Which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his HOLY PROPHETS, SINCE THE

WORLD BEGAN. The original is, T&V ay<W TrpotyrjTtov O.TT' cuwvoe.

The fourth, 1 Cor. vi. 1. Do ye not know that the SAINTS

SHALL JUDGE THE WORLD ? The original is, OI ayiot TOP KOff}WV

Kpivutn. The fifth, Eph. ii. 19. Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE
SAINTS, and of the Iwushold of God. The original is, Sw/«roX/r<u
T&V aytwi'. The sixth, Col. i. 12. Giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheri
tance of the SAINTS IN LIGHT. The original is, T&i> ayuw iv ry
0wrt. The seventh, 1 Thess. iii. 13. AT THE COMING OF OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST WITH ALL HIS SAINTS. The original is,

'EV rfj Trap&ffia ru Kvpte T^UWV 'I^s Xpi?« pera TTCLVTWV ruv ayiuv avrw.

The eighth, 2 Thess. i. 10. WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE

GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. The original is, "Orav eXSp evtiofaffSij-

vai iv TO~IQ (lywtQ avro. The ninth, 2 Pet. iii. 2. That ye may
be mindful of the words, which were spoken before by the HOLY
PROPHETS. The original is, Twv aytwv 7rpo<pr)rwv. The tenth is,
Rev. xi. 18. That thou shouldest give reward unto thy ser
vants the prophets, and TO THE SAINTS. The original is, ToTc
ayioie. The eleventh, Rev. xvi. 6. FOR THEY HAVE SHED THE

BLOOD OF SAINTS. The original is, "Ore cu/io. ay twv i^i^Eav. The

twelfth, Rev. xvii. 6. And I saw the woman drunken with the

BLOOD OF THE SAINTS. The original is, 'Eic TO cu^aroe rwv ayLMV.

The thirteenth, Rev. xviii. 20. Rejoice over her thou heaven,
and ye HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS. The original is, Kcu oi
ayiot, KCU ol ' ATroToXot, feat oi Upo^iirai. I shall not pretend to put
a comment upon any of these texts, to prove that the word "Aytot,
saints, is applied in every one of them to the saints that are
departed from us ; for I think the case so clear in each particu
lar text, that I doubt not but the reader will at first sight be
satisfied in the matter, arid wonder, as well as I, how a man of
so much learning as this anonymous gentleman has shewed him-

276 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

self to be, should yet overlook so many plain texts, and assert
that there is no such thing in the Scriptures as every one of them
contains. So that if I could have produced but one of them, it
had been sufficient to shew, what he tells us he dares be positive
we cannot find : much more will all together shew that he had
not duly examined the Scriptures when he durst be so positive.
A single text might be overlooked by a pretty careful examiner
of the Scriptures; but how so many could be overlooked, I shall
not enquire ; but it is plain, they have been so. Since then the
word "Aytoi, saints, is in Scripture so frequently used, to denote
those that are departed out of this life, we may as justly conclude,

that when we are commanded to pray, trepl iravrMv TWV ayiuv, for
all saints, we are as much required to pray for the saints departed
as we are to baptize infants, because we are commanded to
baptize all nations. And we have as early and as plain testi
monies of the Church for prayer for the dead, as we have for the
baptizing infants. I know indeed that prayer for the dead is
commonly believed by the people of this realm, to be one of the
great corruptions of popery : but that is only a vulgar error, and
our most learned champions against the Church of Rome have
not charged prayer for the dead, as used in the Primitive
Church, to be a corruption of popery ; but the corruption lies in
the doctrine of Purgatory. For the Church of Rome teaches,
that there is a purgatory of fire, by wliich the souls of pious
men are expiated, having suffered torment for a prefixed time.*
And again, before Christ died and rose again, the gates of hea
ven were never opened to any: but the souls of the godly, when
they departed this life, were either carried into Abraham's
bosom, or, which also now befals those in whom something
remains to be washed away or cleared off, were expiated by
the fire of purgatory, f

In the Council of Florence, where the Church of Rome, as I
have already shewed, endeavoured to put her own peculiar doc
trine upon the Greeks, and oblige them to subscribe and own

* Est purgatorius ignis, quo piorum animre ad definitum tempus cruciatae
expiantur. Catechism, Roman, ex Decret. Condi. Trident. $ Pii 5ti Pontifjussu
Edit, ex Officina Plantiniana 1606. Part I. Art. 5. §. 3. p. 49.

f Quamobrem antequam ille raoreretur ac resurgeret, coeli portae nemini
unquam patuerunt: sed piorum aniinae, cum e vivis excessissent, vel in sinum
Abrahae deferebantur, vel, quod etiam mine iis eontingit quibus aliquid diluen-
dum & persolvendum est, purgatorii igne expiabantur. Ibid. §. 6. p. 51.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 277

them, it was decreed, as I have from Du Pin, (having not the
Councils at large by me) " that the souls of true penitents, dying
in the love of God, before they have brought forth fruits worthy of
the repentance of their sins, are purified after their death by the
pains of purgatory, and that they are delivered from these pains
by the suffrages of the faithful that are living, such as holy sacri
fices, prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which the faithful
do for the other faithful, according to the order of the Church :
and that the souls of those who have never sinned since their
baptism, or of those who having fallen into sins, have been puri
fied from them in their bodies, or after their departure out of them,
as we were just now saying, enter immediately into heaven, and
see purely the Trinity, some more perfectly than others, according
to the difference of their merits. Lastly, that the souls of those
who die in actual mortal sin, or only in original sin, descend im
mediately into hell, to be there punished with torments, though
unequal." * Now, this I take to be the fullest authentic declara
tion of the Roman opinion as to this matter : for in pope Pius the
fourth's Creed it is only said : — / constantly believe a purgatory,
and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of
the faithful.-^ Nor does their decree in the Council of Trent
explain what they understand by purgatory more clearly than
their Creed. For it says : — " That whereas the Catholic Church,
instructed by the Holy Spirit out of the Holy Scriptures, and the
ancient tradition of the fathers, has taught in her sacred Councils,
and lastly, in this oecumenical Synod, that there is a purgatory,
and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of
the faithful, but chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar ;
the Synod commands the bishops diligently to take care that the
wholesome doctrine of purgatory, delivered by the holy fathers
and sacred Councils, should be believed, held, and taught, by all
the faithful in Christ." J Here, therefore, as also in the Creed
of pope Pius, they only teach that there is a purgatory, where
souls are detained and helped by the suffrages of the faithful,

* Du Pin's new Ecclesiast. History, cent. 15. chap. 3. p. 45. In the English
Translation.

f Constanter tenco purgatorium esse, animasque ibi detcntas fidelium suftra-
giis juvari. Sept. Decretal, lib. I. tit. 1. c. 4.

£ Cum Catholica Ecclesia spiritu sancto eclocta, ex sacris litcris, &c antiqua
pat rum traditione, in sacris eonciliis, & novissime in hac oecumcnica synodo
docuer.it, purgatorium esse, animasque ibi detentas fidelium suflragiis, potissi-

278 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

and in the Catechism they teach that they are there expiated or
purged by fire. But in the Council of Florence they teach, that
it is a third state for separate souls, and a state of pain and
temporal punishments, and that there are two other states of
heaven and hell, into which some souls go immediately as they
depart out of this life. Which is a doctrine utterly unknown to
the ancients, who never prayed for departed souls as in a state of
purgatory, or of temporal punishment, but as in a state of rest.
And therefore the Church of England says very well, that the
Romish doctrine concerning purgatory is a fond thing, vainly
invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but
rather repugnant to the Word of God.* For the ancients, as
well as the Holy Scripture, never speak of more than two states
of departed souls, the one a state of happiness, and the other of
misery, but both of them imperfect : that is, those in the happy
state could not be completely happy, nor those in the unhappy
state completely miserable, till the resurrection. Consequently,
as those whom they believed to be in a happy state, were in
such a state as was capable of improvement, they prayed for them,
that they might yet enjoy rest and refreshment in a greater degree,
and at last obtain a joyful resurrection when their happiness
should be compleated. The learned Mr. Johnson, whom 1 have
often quoted, takes notice of this in his discourse upon the eucha-
rist, saying : — " There is one proof of the propitiatory nature of
the eucharist, according to the sentiments of the ancient Church,
which will be thought but only too great ; and that is the devo
tions used in the Liturgies, and so often spoken of by the fathers
in behalf of deceased souls : there is, I suppose, no Liturgy with
out them, and the fathers frequently speak of them. St. Chry-
sostom mentions it as an institution of the Apostles. St. Austin
asserts, that such prayers are beneficial to those who have led
lives so moderately good as to deserve them. Cyril of Jerusalem
mentions a prayer for those who are gone to sleep before us. And
St. Cyprian mentions the denial of these prayers, as a censure
passed upon some men by his predecessors. Tertullian speaks of

mum vero acceptabili altaris sacrificio juvari : praecipit Synodus episcopis, ut
sanam de purgatorio doctrinam, a sanctis patribus, &. sacris Conciliis traditam
a Christ! fidelibus credi, teneri, doceri & ubique praedicari diligenter studeant.
Condi. Trident. Sess. 25. £ ult. cap. 1.

* Article xxii.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 279

this practice, as prevailing in his time. And the constitutions do
require priests and people to use these sorts of devotion, for the
souls of those that die in the faith. I shall say nothing of this
doctrine, but that the ancients did not use these prayers as if they
thought of a purgatory. It is certain, this last is a modern inven
tion, in comparison of the oblations and prayers offered by the
Primitive Church in behalf of their deceased brethren. They did
not allow prayers to be made for such as they thought ill men,
either as to principles or practice : they prayed for the Virgin
Mary, Apostles, Patriarchs, &c., and such as they believed to be
like them. They seem to have learned this practice from the
synagogue ; for it is probable the Jews in, and before our Savi
our's time, did use it, Dr. Whitby has fully proved in his anno
tation on 2 Tim. iv. 4., that the Primitive fathers, ant» then tyt
&J)08tl£8> did not believe, that the souls of the faithful are
admitted into heaven before the day of judgment. It was, I
suppose, from hence concluded, that they were in the interim in
a state of expectance, and were capable of an increase of light
and refreshment. Since praying for them in this state is no
where forbidden, they judged it, therefore, lawful ; and if it were
lawful, no more need be said : nature will do the rest."* I shall,
therefore, give some few instances to prove that it was the opinion
of the Primitive Christians, and that before the Council of Nice,
that the souls of saints departed did not go to heaven immediately
upon their separation from the body, but to another inferior place
of happiness, which they called Paradise. Thus Irenseus, in the
second century, or the age immediately following that of the
Apostles, speaking of the Paradise out of which Adam was
ejected, says : — " Wherefore the elders, the disciples of the Apos
tles, say, that those which are translated are translated thither:
(for Paradise is prepared for just men, and such as have the Spirit,
into which Paul, the Apostle, was carried, and heard words unut
terable as to us in this present world) and there those which are
translated remain till the consummation, there together waiting
for the incorruptible state." t And again he says : — " Wherefore

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part I. p. 287.

f Aio /cot \kysffiv 01 UptfftvTfpot, rutv 'Airo-oXcov /J.a6)]rai, rus fierare^evras
tKtiff* n€Ta.Tf$fjvai'(£iKaioisyap avSpuirois Kanrv€v/j.aTO<p6pois riroi/jidcrSr] 6 irapaSei(ros
tv a) KO.I TlavKos 'AiroToAos ectr/co/uo'Secs fjKmrev appffra prjuara, us irpbs rjfjids eV T(#
K <£K€L (jikvfiv T&s fjLfTaTeSrtVTas tus <rvvTf\€tas, irpootfjLia^ofisvfis rrjv
. Iren. 1. 5. c. 5. p. 405. Ed. Grab.

280 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the Apostle says, Let no man think more highly than he ought
to think, but think soberly : lest feeding upon that knowledge of
those persons which thinks more highly than it ought, we be cast
out of the Paradise of life, into which the Lord brings all those
which obey his voice."* Origen speaks yet fuller and rare
plainly, saying : — " For the very Apostles have not yet received
their joy, but even they expect that even I be made a partaker of
their joy. For neither do the saints, which depart from hence,
immediately obtain the whole rewards which they deserve, but
they wait also for us, although dilatory and negligent. For they
have not perfect joy whilst they grieve for our errors, and bewail
our sins. You may not, perhaps, believe me speaking thus : for
who am I, that I should dare dogmatically to maintain such an
opinion ? but I will produce a witness of these matters, of whom
you cannot doubt ; the Apostle Paul, the instructor of the Gentiles
in faith and truth. He, therefore, writing to the Hebrews, when
he has reckoned up all the holy fathers which were justified by
faith, adds this after all '.—And these all, says he, having obtained
a good report through faith, have not yet received the promise ;
God having provided some belter thing for us, that they with
out us should not be made perfect. You see then that Abraham
yet waits, that he may be made perfect : that Isaac waits, and
Jacob, and all the prophets wait for us, that, together with us,
they may receive perfect blessedness. For these reasons therefore
that mystery is preserved to the last day of judgment, which is
hitherto deferred. For it is one body that is expected to be jus
tified, one body that is expected to rise in judgment : for although
there are many members, yet but one body." f Lactantius also,

* Quapropter & Apostolus ait : Non plus sapere, quam oportct sapere, scd sapere
ad prudentiam ; ut non illorum manducantis agnitionem, earn quaa plusquain
oportet sapit, projiciamur de Paradiso vitae : in quem inducit Dominus eos qui
obediunt praeconio ejus. Jren. cap. 20. p. 431.

f Nondura enim receperunt laetitiam suam, ne Apostoli quidem. sed & ipsi
expectant ut & ego laetitias eoruin particeps fiain. Neque enini decedentes hinc
sancti, continue integra meritorum suorum praemia consequuntur, sed expectant
ctiam nos, licet morantes, licet desides. Non enim illis perfecta Iretitia donee
pro erroribtis nostris dolent, & lugent nostra peccata. Hocfortasse mihi dicenti
non credas. Quis enim ego sum, qui confirinare sententiam tanti dogmatis au-
dearn ? Sed adhibeo horum testera, de quo dubitare non potes. Magister enim
gentium in fide 5c veritate Apostolus Paulus : Ipse igitur ad Haebrseos scribens,
cum enumerasset omnes sanctos patres, qui per fidem justificati sunt, addidit
post omnia etiam hoc. Sed isti (inquit) omnes testimonium habentes per fidem,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 281

who flourished a little before the Council of Nice, says : — " Neither
let any one think that souls are judged immediately after death ;
they are all reserved in one common prison, till the time comes
wherein the great Judge shall examine their merits." * I might
produce many more express authorities from Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Cyprian, all Ante-Nicene fathers ; but
for these I shall refer myself to a little book lately written by the
reverend and learned Mr. Deacon, called, "The Doctrine of the
Church of Rome concerning Purgatory, proved to be contrary to
Catholic Tradition, and inconsistent with the necessary Duty of
praying for tJie dead, as practised in the Ancient Church :" and
to bishop Bull's Sermon concerning " the middle state of happiness
or misery," printed in the first volume of his posthumous works.
And for Scripture proofs of this doctrine, though I think that pro
duced by Origen from the Epistle to the Hebrews is sufficient, if
we had no other, (but there are a great multitude besides) I refer
the reader to a little book, printed by Keble 1713., called, " Some
Primitive Doctrines revived, or the intermediate or middle state
of departed souls (as to happiness or misery) before the day of
judgment, plainly proved from the Holy Scriptures, and concurrent
testimonies of the fathers of the Church." However, for the pre
sent satisfaction of the reader, I will produce two or three clear
texts to this purpose. The first is what our Saviour said to the
thief upon the cross, Verily, I say unto thee, to day shall thou
be ivith me in Paradise.-^ Now it is certain, our Saviour and
the thief died that day, and their souls went into the place pre
pared for the souls of good men when they go out of this life.
This our Saviour calls by the name of Paradise, thereby denoting
it to be a place of ease, refreshment, and enjoyment; for such a
place both Jews and Christians have always understood to be

nondum aclsecuti sunt repromissionem, Deo pro nobis aliquid melius providente,
uti ne sine nobis perfectionem consequerentur. Vides ergo, quia expectat ad-
huc Abraham ut quae perfecta sunt consequatur. Expectat &, Isaac, &, Jacob,
& omnes prophets, expectant nos ut nobiscum perfectam beatitudinem capiant.
Propter base ergo etiam mysterium iilud in ultimam diem dilati judicii custo-
ditur. Unum enim corpus est, quod justificari expectatur, unum quod resurgere
dicitur in judicio. Licet enim sint multa membra, sed unum corpus. Origen.
Horn. 7. in Levit.

* Nee tamen quisquam putet, animas post mortem protinus judicari. Omnes
in una communique custodia detinentur, donee tetnpus adveniat, quo maximus
judex meritorum faciat examen. Lactant. lib. 1. cap. 21.
f Luke xxiii. 43.

2 o

282 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

signified by that word. To this place then the soul of our Saviour,
and also that of the penitent thief, went on the day that they died,
as soon as they were separated from their bodies. All this is
clear from the text. But on the third day our Saviour arose
again from the dead, and ascended afterwards into heaven, as we
are taught by the Scriptures, and profess in our Creed. And
that he was not in heaven before, is evident from his own words,
when after his resurrection he said to Mary, Touch me not, for I
am not yet ascended to my Father. * But the soul of the thief
and consequently of other good men in Paradise, continued there
still ; neither he nor any of them arose with our Saviour, and
ascended into heaven, but continued still in the state they were
in before, and must continue so till the resurrection. For if our
Saviour himself did not go to his Father into heaven till after his
resurrection, can we think that any other shall be admitted to
that privilege which was denied to our Saviour himself? This
text therefore plainly confirms the tradition, which Irenseus tells
us he received from the elders which were immediate disciples to
the Apostles, That those good men which are translated from
hence, that is, which depart this life, are translated into Para
dise, a place distinct from the highest heavens, there to remain
till the resurrection. Another clear text is this, David speaketh
concerning Christ, and saith, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.^ Now
by hell in this place is not meant the state of the damned, as we
now commonly understand the word, but only a concealed secret
place, which is hidden from the eyes of those that live in this
world, being a common receptacle for souls departed. For our
Saviour's soul never went to the place of the damned, as we learn
from the text before cited, but to Paradise, a place of rest and
enjoyment. However, it went to "A&ic, which wTe translate hell,
or a place in general prepared to receive all human souls when
separated from the body, in which there are, nevertheless, many
mansions, and a distinction made betwixt good and bad, and that
part of "A^e, or hell, which is appointed for pious souls, is the
same which is called Paradise. And in this place the text tells
us, Christ's soul was not left, for it continued there but to the
third day. But if other souls had not been left there, what had

* John xx. 17. f Acts ii. 25. 27.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 283

been the peculiar privilege of Christ in this case ? Therefore the
Apostle making it a peculiar privilege of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, the concealed secret state of the dead, plainly im
plies that all other souls were left there ; particularly the soul of
David, the man after God's own heart, for immediately after it is
said, David is not ascended into heaven.* And if David is not
yet in heaven, what mere man can we suppose to be gone thither ?
And this confirms what Origen delivers, as taught by St. Paul iri
the Epistle to the Hebrews, that those who are departed before
us, whether patriarchs, prophets, or apostles, the best men that
ever lived, have not yet received the promises, but are in a state
of expectance, waiting for their perfect consummation and bliss,
when the number of the elect shall be accomplished ; as the
Church of England also teaches in one of her prayers in the
burial-office. I shall produce but one text more, which I think
is very plain and full to the purpose. Beloved, now we are the
sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but
we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for
we shall see him as he is.\ From hence the learned author of
" Some Primitive Doctrines revived", argues : — "By this text it
appears, first, That until Christ's second coming or appearing, we
are to be, in a great measure, ignorant of what then at that time
we shall be allowed to know, even about ourselves, as well as
concerning the glory which till then we only have in prospect
and hope for. Which shews us, wre are not till then to be pos
sessed of fulness of joy, or of knowledge, or admitted into the
third heavens ; for if then we were, we could not be deficient in
knowledge, nor could we desire more joy, nor more glory, than the
being there necessarily supposes us to be possessed of. Secondly,
That at Christ's second coming, we are to be made like unto him,
and our bodies which are now, are then to be fashioned like unto
his glorious body. And that thus it is to be with us then, we
are till tf)£tt firmly to believe and hope ; we are to believe it is
tf)£tt, and not till tf)£tt, to be performed." Since then this opinion
and unanimous tradition of the ancient fathers concerning the
state of the faithful departed, is founded upon such clear authority
of Holy Scripture, there is no question to be made, but this is an
opinion undoubtedly true. Consequently it is most certain, that

* Acts ii. 34. t J John iii. 2.

284 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the faithful departed have not yet obtained their perfect con
summation and bliss, that they are not yet in heaven, but in
Paradise only ; which, though a place of happiness, is yet much
- inferior to heaven itself. It is certain, as Dr. Hammond says,
that some measure of bliss, which shall at the day of judgment
be vouchsafed the saints, is not till then enjoyed, and therefore
may saMg aulf tftll) be prayed for them* And if it may saMg
att& fttlv be prayed for them, then, as Mr. Johnson says, Nature
will do the rest. However, I conceive not only nature, but the
Scriptures also, require it. For the Scripture requires us to pray
for all saints, and also plainly teaches us, that the faithful
departed come into that number. Therefore we disobey the
Scripture when we exclude tite faithful departed from our prayers.
This the ancients never did, but as appears from all these Litur
gies, and the testimony of the Primitive fathers, they always
remembered them in particular, whenever they celebrated the
holy eucharist. And so did the first reformed Church of P^ngland
also, as appears from the first Liturgy of Edward VI. But Martyr
and Bucer, and their friends here, were not content not to have
them particularly prayed for, but clapt in words that should par
ticularly exclude them, putting this preface to the general
intercession in the communion service : — Let us pray for the
whole state of Christ's Church, militant fym on fattf) : as much
as to say, Let us pray for the faithful in this world, not for
those which are departed. So that whereas the Scripture
expressly requires us to pray for all saints, this preface (the like
to which, I am confident, was never set to any prayer before)
directly excludes the greater number of those whom the Scripture
calls saints, and instead of teaching us to pray for all, directly
requires us to exclude the most and the best. But these gentle
men, Bucer, Martyr, and their followers, seem little to have
considered what they did, so they run to what they believed the
utmost extreme opposite to popery, as if there was no medium.
But as Dr. Hammond also observes in the place before cited, and
I trust I have also already proved, this prayer for the dead used
by the ancient Church, which having Antiquity, Universality,
and Consent, to authorise it, we therefore desire to have restored,
*** a very distant thing from that prayer which is now used in

* Ham. Not. on 2 Tim. i. 16.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 285

the Romish Church for deliverance from temporal pains, founded
in their doctrine of purgatory.

§ 20. After this general intercession for all estates and condi
tions of men, though commonly at some interval, follows the
Lord's Prayer, excepting in the Clementine Liturgy, which has
it not at all, and the present Liturgy of the Church of England,
where it is ordered to be used before the bread and wine are
brought to the table, that is, before that which is properly and
strictly speaking the communion service, is begun, and not after
wards, till the distribution is over. Whether the use of this
prayer be necessary at this time, I shall not dispute, I think no
doubt can be made but that it is very proper and expedient.
And it was certainly the universal practice, after Liturgies were
written and so used by public authority : for there is no ancient
Liturgy except the Clementine that has it not. And I have
already observed, that the Clementine Liturgy, though it be the
best exemplar we have extant of the old traditional form, yet
was not put into writing by the authority of any Church, I
shall therefore content myself to recite what Mr. Johnson has
said on this occasion. " Some might have expected, that I
should speak of the Lord's Prayer as necessary to the consecra
tion of the eucharisty because several of the fathers, about four
hundred years after Christ, do mention it as constantly used in
the consecration service : and I cannot but readily confess, that
it may be very properly used on that or any other weighty occa
sion ; nay, I dare not say, that the ancients were mistaken, when
by the super substantial bread, they understood the eucharist :
yet I can by no means believe, that the use of it is necessary to
consecration ; not only because it is not inserted into the conse
cration service of the most ancient Liturgy now in the world, nor
mentioned by the fathers of the three first Centuries, as a part of
the communion office; but because it is very evident, that our
Saviour did first and chiefly design it for a private prayer to be
used in the closet : and it is one thing for a private Christian, or
for a congregation of Christians, to beg of God, that they may
never want the eucharist, or food necessary both for their bodies
and souls ; and it is another thing to invoke the Divine Spirit, in
order to render the present bread and wine the sacramental body
and blood of Christ. Gregory, bishop of Rome, in the Sixth or

286 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Seventh Century, did imagine, that the Apostles consecrated the
elements with this prayer, and so have several others since him ;
but this seems to have been a late and ill grounded tradition.
* For I cannot think, that a writer of the latter end of the Sixth
Century is a competent witness to establish a fact of this moment,
when destitute of all testimony of the earlier ages." f Now I am
of this learned gentleman's opinion, that this prayer was not
thought by the ancients to be in any wise necessary to the con
secration of the eucharist, and therefore shall by no means charge
the Church of England as defective in her form of consecration,
because she has not appointed this prayer to be used in any part
of that office between the time she has ordered the bread and
wine to be set upon the table, and the distribution of those
elements, notwithstanding Gregory the Great, and divers after
him, suppose that the Apostles consecrated with this prayer.
For I am persuaded, Justin Martyr, who wrote within fifty years
of the death of St. John, and whilst many immediate disciples of
the Apostles were living, must know how they consecrated much
better than pope Gregory, who lived not till near five hundred
years after the Apostolical age. And he makes no mention of
the Lord's Prayer, but only of a long eucharistical or thanksgiving
prayer; which prater, as I have shewed, was concluded with a
petition for the descent of the Holy Ghost, to make the elements
the body and blood of Christ: and then follows the general
intercession for all estates and conditions of men. And then, and
not till then, as St. Cyril of Jerusalem (the earliest father, I think,
that has mentioned the Lord's Prayer as used in this service)
observes, the Lord's Prayer was used. % But before he makes
any mention of that prayer, he speaks of the consecration or
sacrifice as fully completed. || Therefore the Lord's Prayer,
which he mentions as constantly used afterwards, is not, accord
ing to him, used as tending to any consecration or sanctification
of the elements, but as proper to be used by us, to sanctify and
qualify us for the worthy participation or reception of them.
And when he says, that we pray to God to give us this day our
super substantial bread, it is evident he does not mean, that we
thereby pray that God wrould make that bread super substantial,
for it is already made so by the Word of God and prayer, but

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 1. p. 235. f Ibid. part. 2. p. 181.

J Cateches. Mystagog. 5., § 8. j| Ibid. § 6.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 287

only that he would vouchsafe us to be acceptable receivers of
that bread, and that now it is made supersubstantial, he would
graciously permit us to partake of it. This, according to the
order in which the Lord's Prayer is placed in all the Liturgies,
must plainly be the intent for which it is used. However, as we
find this prayer in all the Liturgies, excepting the Clementine,
and that these Liturgies were used by some Church or other in
all parts of the Christian world, I see no reason to question but
that the use of this prayer in the communion service, after the
general intercession, and before the distribution, was of Apostoli
cal practice ; according to that rule of St. Augustine, Whatsoever
the Universal Church holdeth, and which was not instituted by
any Council, but has been always observed, that we most rightly
conclude to have been a tradition derived from Apostolic
authority. * And though I look upon the Clementine Liturgy,
where this prayer is not, to be the best exemplar we have extant
of the old traditional Apostolical form, yet where it differs from
the apparent practice of all Churches, as in this single case, I
am not for following it. However, this is riot an interpolation
(which is the charge Renaudotius brings against it without any
proof) but an omission. Now an interpolation is what must be
inserted on purpose and with design, but an omission may easily
happen through the haste or inadvertency of a transcriber.
Therefore finding that there is nothing in the Clementine Liturgy
but what is agreeable to the practice of the Universal Church,
and confirmed by all the other Liturgies, only that there appears
this one omission, I think it not at all improbable to suppose that
the compiler of that Liturgy did, at the conclusion of the general
intercession, put down the initial words of the Lord's Prayer in
this manner, Our Father, 8fc., which by the inadvertency of the
transcriber might be omitted, so that we may not have them in
any of the copies now extant. I say this is probable, since there
is no other point but this wherein the other Liturgies exactly
agree, wherein they do not also agree with the Clementine.
However I did not undertake to prove that the Clementine
Liturgy was in no respect deficient, but only that it was not
interpolated, which was the charge brought against it. And

* Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nee conciliis institutum, sed semper retentum
est, non nisi auctoritate Apostolica traditum rectissime creditur. August, de
baptis. contr. Donatist. /.I., cap. 24.

288 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

even this deficiency touches no part of the institution, nothing
that relates to the consecration, in which the office of the Church
of England has been shewn to be plainly defective ; and there
fore if it be a defect, it is plainly no essential one. The Lord's
Prayer is very proper and expedient to be used on this occasion ;
but it pertains not to the institution, and is not therefore essen
tially necessary to the ministration.

§ 21. That which follows next in the Clementine Liturgy is
a form of lidding prayer, pronounced by the deacon, and is
called a lidding prayer for the faithful after the divine obla
tion, in which the deacon briefly recapitulates the heads of what
the bishop or officiating priest has before prayed for. To which
the people answer, Raise us up, O God, by thy grace : let us
stand up and dedicate ourselves to God, through his Christ.
This form of lidding prayer after the oblation is peculiar to this
Liturgy, and is not followed by any of the rest. And as it
contains nothing but what has been mentioned before, so 1 need
not examine the particular contents of it. I shall only observe
from hence that the form of bidding prayer, still directed by the
Canon of the Church of England, is very ancient. And though
we do not find it used in the other Liturgies after the oblation,
yet it may be found in other parts of those Liturgies, as also in
this before the Anaphora or Canon Missa is begun ; and there
fore is very properly, and agreeably to the practice of the Primi
tive Church, ordered by the Church of England to be used before
the sermon. I shall also further take notice, that the first petition
directed in this bidding form of the -Clementine Liturgy, is proper
to be used only after the oblation ; and therefore is not, as the
other parts of it are, put into that form which precedes it. The
words are these : Let us yet again beseech God, through his
Christ, for the gift which is offered to the Lord God; that the
good God would receive it as a sweet-smelling savour unto his
heavenly altar, through the mediation of his Christ. Now as
the other parts of this lidding prayer are a plain abridgment of
the prayer for all estates and conditions of men, so this seems to
be a comprehensive petition designed for an abridgment of the
oblation : signifying to the people, that they are supposed to have
borne a part in the oblation as well as in the intercession, and
that it is now proper for them to recollect what they have prayed

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 289

for, and every one for himself renew their common requests in
their private devotions. For, as Mr. Johnson observes, the
people before the eucharist were wont to pray every one secretly
or mentally whilst they were in the Church. * And the form of
bidding prayers was intended as a direction to them what they
ought to pray for in those private prayers ; so that though each
man prayed by himself, yet there might be an harmony between
them, and all might offer the same petitions. And the same we
see was ordered also by the Clementine Liturgy after the oblation :
that what the bishop or priest had before offered in all their
names, every man might now offer for himself. And though this
first petition, directed by this bidding form, was not in the fore
going prayers of the bishop, yet the purport of it was undoubtedly
there ; and in the Roman Canon, this petition, almost in the
same words, immediately follows the oblation in the place where
the invocation for the descent of the Holy Ghost follows in the
Clementine and all the other Liturgies : " We humbly beseech
thee, Almighty God, that thou wilt command that these gifts be
carried by the hands of thy holy angel unto thy sublime altar,
into the presence of thy Divine Majesty." This prayer the
Greeks have urged against the Latins, to prove, that even
according to their own Canon, the consecration is not supposed
to be made by the recital of the words of institution, but by this
prayer which follows the recital of those words and the oblation,
as the prayer of invocation does in all the Greek Liturgies, and
all the Latin ones too except the Roman. This cardinal Bona
has observed as the objection made by Cabasilas, who maintained
the doctrine of the Greeks, in this point against the Romanists ;
and having asserted that the consecration of the gifts was not
sufficiently completed by the recital of the words, This is my
body, This is my blood, as the Romanists teach ; he says, " But
what may effectually stop the mouth of gain sayers, is that even
the Latin Church, to whom they seem to refer, does not refuse to
pray for the gifts after the Word of the Lord has been recited.
But if they are therefore deceived, because the Latins do not pray
immediately as the Lord's words are pronounced, and that they
do not clearly petition for the sanctification of the gifts, and
changing them into the Lord's body ; yet they use other expres

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part II. p. 100.
2 P

290 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

sions tending thereto, and which are to the same purport. And
what is this prayer ? Command these gifts to be carried up in
the hand of the angel to thy supercelestial altar. For let them
say what is the meaning of this, Let the gifts be carried up ?
For they either pray for a local translation of them from the
earth, and these lower regions into heaven, or else that they may
receive some honourable change from a lower to a more elevated
state."* And a little after (as Bona further says) Cabasilas
adds, "Whence it is manifest 'that they very well know, that
they are still but bread and wine which have not yet received the
sanctification, and therefore they pray for them, as hitherto need
ing prayer." And the learned cardinal has no other answer to
make to this, but that the Greeks in the Council of Florence
acknowledged the consecration to be made by the pronouncing
those words, This is my body, This is my blood, which has been
already fully answered. The truth is, did not the modern rubrics,
which have been added to the Roman Canon since the time of
pope Gregory, so positively assert the consecration to consist in
those words, no body that read it, would think they could suppose
it to do so ; there being a prayer for God's blessing on the ele
ments before those words are said, and this prayer for their
reception at his heavenly altar after them : which, as Cabasilas
justly observes, cannot refer to any local translation of them, but
can only mean that they may be perfectly sanctified and made
acceptable in his sight. And some persons are pleased to brand
us as popishly affected, because in this particular we declare for
the Greeks against the Latins, because we believe, upon the
clearest evidence the matter is capable of, that the opinion of the
Greeks in this particular is most agreeable to the institution of

* Quod autem os eis qui contradicunt omnino obstruit, cst quod etiam Latin
oruin Ecclesia ad qnam referre videntur, post verbum Domini pro donis orare
non recusat. Si autem ideo falluntur, quod Latini non statim post Domini
prolatum sermonem orant, & quod non aperte petunt sanctificationeui & muta
tionem in Corpus Dominicum, sed aliis utuntur nominibus eo ferentibus & qusc
tantundem valent. Quas est autem ista oratio ? Jube sursum fcrri dona liccc in
manu angeli ad superc celeste tnum altare. Dicant enim quid est hoc, sursum dona
deferri ? vel enim localem eis translationem precantur a terra & inferioribus
locis in coelum, vel dignam aliquam & ab humilioribus ad altiora mutationem,
Et paucis intcrjcctis. Unde manifestum est eos omnino scire ea adhuc esse
panem & vinum, quae sanctificationem nondum susceperunt, & propterea pro
ipsis quidein orant, qua? oratione adhuc indigent. Bona dc Reb. Liturg. lib. 2.
cap. 13. pp. 183, 181.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 291

Christ, and the doctrine and practice of the Primitive and
Catholic Church. They accuse us of popery for declaring
against the plain, evident, modern corruptions of the Church of
Rome, and think it to be a good testimony of their own abhor
rence of those corruptions to contend strenuously for them. But
I must confess, I shall never trouble myself to endeavour to
satisfy some gentlemen that I am not popishly affected, who
whilst they are themselves maintaining and defending plain
popish corruptions, call me papist for opposing them.

§ 22. After the people in their private devotions have recapi
tulated the substance of what was before more largely prayed for
by the bishop or officiating priest, as directed to do by the dea
con in the bidding form, then the bishop proceeds to pray in
particular for those that are then assembled, that they may be
worthy partakers of that holy sacrament, saying, " Look down
upon us, and upon this thy flock which thou hast chosen in him
to the glory of thy name ; and sanctifying us in body and soul,
vouchsafe that we being cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and
spirit may partake of the good things lying before thee: and
judge none of us unworthy, but be thou our helper and defender,
through thy Christ." St James's Liturgy : " To thee, O Lord,
we thy servants bow down our heads before thine holy altar, in
expectation of the riches of thy mercy. Send down upon us, O
Lord, thine abundant grace and benediction, and sanctify our
souls, and bodies, and spirits, that we may be made worthy
communicants and partakers of thy holy mysteries, for the remis
sion of our sins and for eternal life." St. Mark's Liturgy : " We
bow down the necks of our souls and bodies unto thee, thereby
testifying our bounden duty and service, and we beseech thee to
drive out of our minds the dark ways of sin, and cheer our mind
with the divine light of thy Spirit, that being filled with the
knowledge of thee, we may worthily partake of the good things
set before us, the immaculate body and precious blood of thy
only begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
forgiving us, of thy great and unsearchable goodness, every
appearance of evil; through the grace and mercy and loving-
kindness of thy only begotten Son." St: Chrysostom's Liturgy :
" Thou, O Lord, look down from heaven upon those who have
bowed their heads to thee : for they have not bowed to flesh and

292 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

blood, but to thee the dreadful God. Thou therefore, O Lord,
divide these gifts lying before thee to every one according to his
necessity. Sail with those that sail, travel with those that
travel; heal the sick, tliou Physician of soul and body." St.
Basil's Liturgy, as used at Constantinople : " O Sovereign Lo:d,
Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, bless, sanctify, keep,
defend, confirm, turn from every evil, and lead to every good
work, those who have bowed their heads to thee : and vouchsafe,
that without condemnation they may partake of these immaculate
and life-giving mysteries, for the remission of sins and communi
cation of the Holy Spirit." St. Basil's Liturgy, as used at
Alexandria, has this prayer in the same words with that of
St. Basil's Liturgy as used at Constantinople. The Ethiopic
Liturgy: "O Lord, who sittest upon the Cherubim, and beholdest
thy people and thine inheritance, bless thy servants and thine
handmaids and their children, and give to every one that cometh
to partake of thy admirable table, with a pure conscience, remis
sion of sins, together with the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of
soul and body, and the obtaining the inheritance of the kingdom
of heaven, through the grace and favour of thy only begotten
Son." The Liturgy of Nestorius has not this prayer, and seems
to be the only one which wants it. The Liturgy of Severus:
" O God, who hast so loved us, and given us the adoption of sons,
that we should both be and be called the sons of God, thy heirs,
O Father, and co-heirs with thy Christ ; incline thine ear to us,
and hear us, O Lord, who bow down our heads before thee, and
purify our inward man, even as thine only begotten Son, whom
we are going to receive, is pure. Let fornication and all unclean
thoughts fly from us in the name of God, who was born of a
virgin ; and let pride and loftiness of mind be driven from us,
through him that humbled himself; and faint-heartedness through
him that suffered in the flesh, and erected the sign of the victori
ous cross : Let vain glory be suppressed by us, through him that
was beaten and scourged, and who turned not away his face from
those that de spitefully spit on him : let the Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sins of the world, take from us envy, homicide,
dissension, and hatred : let rage and anger be put far from us,
through him that subdued the devil and enemy by his crucifixion,
and cancelled the hand writing of our sins. Take from us every
earthly thought, through him that took us with himself into hea-

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 203

ven, that we may with purity communicate in this most pure
sacrament, and be perfectly sanctified in body, soul, and spirit,
and give glory unto thee." In the Roman Canon the priest
makes such a prayer for himself, but not in general for the people
also, as in the other Liturgies. But in the first Liturgy of king
Edward VI. there is the confession and absolution, and the prayer
of humble access, We do not presume to come to this thy table,
8fc.9 coming immediately before the distribution of the elements.
These prayers are still retained in the communion service of the
Church of England ; but I know not for what service are placed
in the beginning of the service, directly contrary to the most
ancient and universal order of the Church. Now though the
misplacing of these prayers would not justify the making altera
tions in the public Liturgy, yet when it was found necessary to
alter it upon other accounts, by reason of essential defects in the
very form of consecration, it was certainly then very proper to
restore these prayers to their right place.

§ 23. After this prayer for pardon of sin and of humble access,
whereby God is desired to make all that are present worthy par
takers of the holy sacrament, then the bishop or officiating priest,
according to the Clementine Liturgy, says, " Holy things are for
holy persons." To which the people answer, " There is one Holy,
one Lord, one Jesus Christ, in the glory of God the Father,
blessed for ever. Amen. Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will towards men. Hosannah to the Son of
David, blessed be God the Lord that cometh in the name of the
Lord, and hath appeared unto us : Hosannah in the highest." St.
James's Liturgy, "Holy things are for holy persons." People,
"There is but one that is Holy, one Lord Jesus Christ, to the
honour of God the Father, to whom be glory for ever." The
Liturgy of St. Mark, " Holy things are for holy persons." People,
"There is one Holy Father, one Holy Son, one Holy Ghost, in
the Unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen." The Liturgy of St.
Chrysostom, "Holy things are for holy persons." Choir, "There is
one Holy, one Lord Jesus Christ, in the glory of God the Father."
In St. Basil's Liturgy, as used in the Clmrqh of Constantinople,
the priest also says, "Holy things are for holy persons:" but
there is no answer directed for the people. The Liturgy of St.
Basil, as used at Alexandria, " Holy things are for holy persons."

294 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

People, " Lord have mercy upon us. There is one Holy Father,
one Holy Son, one Holy Ghost. Amen." The Ethiopia Liturgy
is the same only without the suffrage, " Lord have mercy upon
us." The Liturgy of Nestorius, as I observed before, is imperfect.
The Liturgy of Severus has the words, " Holy things are for holy
persons." But the people are not directed to give any answer to
it. The Roman Canon, and the first Liturgy of king Edward VI.
have not this passage, neither can we say whether it was in any
of the ancient Liturgies of the Western Church, the Gothic, the
Gallican, and the Mozarabic, because those Liturgies have not
been transmitted entire to us. However, it is certainly of very
ancient use in all the Greek and Eastern Churches, and probably
was so in the Western, till all other Liturgies in this part of the
world were made to give place to the Roman, and by that means
we have only fragments of them left. So that, although we know
some things that certainly were in those Liturgies, and in parti
cular that all the points now in dispute were in them as well as
in all other Liturgies, yet we cannot say what was not in them
which we find to be in other Liturgies.

§ 24. After this, in the Clementine Liturgy, immediately
follows the distribution ; the bishop or officiating priest giving
the bread, and saying, " The body of Christ ;" and he that
receives, answers, " Amen." And the deacon follows with the
cup and gives it, saying, " The blood of Christ, the cup of life."
And he that drinks, answers, " Amen." The Liturgy of St. James,
as transmitted to us, has not told us what were the words -used at
the distribution ; nor does it tell us whether the bread and wine
are given distinct, or both together in a spoon, according to the
present practice of some Churches. However we learn from St.
Cyril, that they were delivered distinct in the Church of Jerusa
lem, where St. James's Liturgy was used. For he directs the
communicant to receive in this manner, saying, " When you come
to receive the communion, do not come with your hands stretched
out, nor with your fingers disjoined, but make your left hand the
seat of your right hand, which is to receive so great a King, and
receive the body of Christ in the hollow of your hand, saying,
Amen. Then after the communion of the body of Christ, go also
to the cup of his blood, not reaching out your hand, but bowing
down in a posture of adoration and worship, saying, Amen." In

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 295

the Liturgy of St. Mark, they are given distinct, with these
words, " The Holy Body;" and for the cup, " The precious blood
of our Lord and God and Saviour." In the Liturgy of St. Chry-
sostom, they are also plainly given distinct to all the clergy,
with these words : " I give you the precious, and holy, and im
maculate body of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
for the remission of sins and eternal life." And at the giving of
the cup, " Thou receivest the precious and holy body and blood
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of thy
sins and eternal life." And when he has drank, then he adds,
" This has touched thy lips, and shall take away thine iniquities,
and cleanse thee from thy sins." And I suppose the same words
are used in the distribution to the people, to whom both the bread
and wine are given together in a spoon, though that be not ex
pressed in the Liturgy. The words of distribution are not iu the
Liturgy of St. Basil, as used at Constantinople : but when that
Liturgy is used there, they on this occasion follow the directions
of St. Chrysostom's Liturgy. Neither are they in the Alexan
drian Liturgy of St. Basil. Therefore we may reasonably suppose,
that when that Liturgy is there used, the elements are distributed
with the same words as in the Liturgy of St. Mark. In the
Ethiopic Liturgy, at the giving the bread, the priest says, " This
is the bread of life, which came down from heaven, the very pre
cious body of Emanuel our God. Amen." And he that receives
says, " Amen." Then the deacon gives the cup, saying, " This
is the cup of life, which came down from heaven, which is the
precious blood of Christ." And he that receives says, " Amen,
Amen." The Liturgy of Nestorius, as I observed, is imperfect.
Neither does the Liturgy of Severus, as it is published, tell us the
words of distribution. In the Roman Church, no one receives
the cup but the officiating priest, nor are the words set down in
the Canon which he uses when he gives the wafer to the people.
However, when he receives himself, he is directed to say, " The
body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul unto eternal life.
Amen." And then, " The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve
my soul unto eternal life. Amen." The first Liturgy of king
Edward VI. added the words which was given for thee, and also
the word body in this sentence, ordering the priest to say, " The
body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve
thy body and soul unto everlasting life." In the second Liturgy

206 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

of king Edward VI., to please Martyr, and Bucer, and their fol
lowers, these words, which were never in any Liturgy before,
were ordered to be used at the distribution: — "Take, and eat
this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in
thy heart by faith with thanksgiving." And, " Drink tliis in
remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and be thank
ful." And in the first year of queen Elizabeth, both these sentences
were added together, as they stand in the present Liturgy of the
Church of England. Thus we find that in all Churches the
bread and cup were given as the sacramental body and blood of
Christ, and accordingly in the words used at the distribution were
always called by the name of his body and blood, the name by
which he himself called those elements when he gave them to his
disciples : and, therefore, the Church of England very wisely
restored the old form, though she also retained with it Bucer and
Martyr's new form. But as it was a perfect new form, and in
troduced at first in direct opposition to all the ancient forms of
administration, which are all agreeable to each other in sense,
though not in words, there was no reason it should be continued
by those who profess to follow the practice of the ancient Church
in their ministrations.

§ 25. Thus I have gone through the whole communion office,
as contained in the Clementine Liturgy, from the dismission of
the Catechumens to the distribution of the elements to the com
municants. And I trust I have very fairly and plainly proved it
to be perfectly free from all interpolations, which is the charge
Renaudotius has brought against it, without so much as offering
the least proof of it. For I have shewed, that it contains nothing
but what is agreeable to the Scriptures, and that every part of it
has the testimony of Ante-Nicene fathers to vouch for it; which is
sufficient to satisfy us of the antiquity of this form. I have also
shewed, that every prayer in it is agreeable in sense, though not
in words, to a like prayer in all the other Liturgies here published,
that is, to the Liturgies used in all parts of the Christian world,
which plainly prove the Universality and Consent of all nations,
and of all Christians in this form, or in one perfectly agreeable
thereto. So that here is an agreement with the Holy Scripture,
together with Antiquity, Universality, and Consent, to satisfy
us that the Clementine Liturgy contains the true form of admin-

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 297

istering the holy eucharist ; consequently that it is, as bishop
Hickes truly styles it, The standard and test, by which all the
others are to be tried. And, as Mr. Johnson also says, I am, in
my own mind, persuaded, that if we had the very words in
which St. Peter and St. Paul consecrated the eucharist, it
would not differ in substance from that which is contained in
this most ancient Liturgy* I will, therefore, very briefly recapi
tulate the particulars contained in it, that so we may at one view
see the true and ancient form of administering the holy sacrament --Tr"*"
In the first place, as Justin Martyr teaches, bread, and wine, and
water, being brought, the service begins with a form of thanks- „/ /
giving to God for the creation of the world, and all his other '
mercies conferred on mankind, particularly for our redemption by *
the passion, death, and resurrection, of our Lord Jesus Christ,
with some proper suffrages preceding and introductory thereto. ^
This our Saviour did ; for the three evangelists who have written
of this institution, and also St. Paul, say expressly, that he gave I
thanks; and St. Matthew and St. Mark say, that he blessed;
and all interpreters seem to agree, that evAoyj/o-ae and e^ap^o-ac
signify the same thing in this place, that is, he eucharistized or
blessed with thanksgiving. Therefore, as our Saviour plainly
consecrated or blessed both the bread and the cup with thanks
giving, so ought we to do also. And in this thanksgiving, a
recital is made of what our Saviour did and commanded us to do,
about which there is no dispute. Then, in the Clementine and
all other Liturgies, follows the oblation or presentation of the
elements to God ; which also appears to have been done by our
Saviour : for if he had not, in the institution, actually so presented,
or offered them, he would not have said : — This is my body Qtt)fU
for you. For how could he have said gtfofU, if he had not then
presented or offered it to the Father. Then follows a prayer for
the descent of the Holy Ghost, to make the elements the body
and blood of Christ. Now it is certain, from the words of insti
tution, that Christ did make the elements to be his body and
blood ; for he expressly tells us that they are so : but no power
inferior to his own could make them so. As, therefore, the Holy
Spirit is his Divine substitute, by which he is present with his
Church unto the end of the world ; whatever operations he now

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part 2., p. 148.
2 Q

298 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

performs in his Church, are wrought by that Divine Spirit, who
with the Father and the Son is One God : therefore, that the
elements may become his body and blood in power and effect, it
is necessary that this Holy Spirit should descend upon them, and
operate in them and with them, because it is the spirit lliat
quickeneth, the Jiesh prqfiteth nothing.* After this prayer for
the descent of the Holy Spirit to make the elements the food of
eternal life, then follows an intercession for all estates aud condi
tions of men in the Catholic Church, which is certainly highly
requisite at this time, as a testimony of our full communion with
the Catholic Church, and our charity with all men, and therefore
there is no dispute concerning the necessity of such a prayer in
general, but only whether (he faithful departed are to be included
or excluded this prayer. The Scripture, in divers places, teaches
us, that these are still saints, and consequently members of the
Catholic Church ; and the Scripture also teaches us, that we
should make supplication for all saints, without excluding those
which are departed ; and it is also certain from the Scriptures,
that there is a greater degree of bliss which shall, at the day of
judgment, be vouchsafed to the saints, when their bodies and
souls shall be re-united, and which will not till then be enjoyed
by them ; and whicli may, therefore, very safely and fitly be
prayed for them. Consequently to exclude the faithful departed
out of our prayers, when we celebrate the holy communion, is a
kind of exclusion of them from our communion, or rather we
exclude ourselves thereby from their communion, and make a
direct breach in the communion of saints. Then follows a prayer
that God would pardon the sins of the communicants, and make
them acceptable partakers of this holy sacrament, and then the
elements are orderly distributed to every one, with these words
only : — The body oj Christ, the blood of Christ : agreeable to the
words of institution : — This is my body, this is my blood. Thus
has the Clementine Liturgy exactly followed the Holy Scriptures,
and our Saviour's institution in particular, in the form of minis
tering the holy eucharist, and all the other ancient Liturgies are
agreeable to it in all these particulars. And excepting in the
use of the Lord's Prayer, which is omitted in the Clementine, but
inserted in all the other Liturgies, and concerning the use of

* John vi. 63.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 299

which there is no dispute, the other Liturgies (as shall be shewed
when I come to consider them particularly) are not agreeable to
one another, where they disagree with the Clementine. Conse
quently as they want Antiquity, so they also want Universality
and Consent in those points. Neither is there any thing in the
Clementine Liturgy, except a Rubric, (which I am not concerned
about, since all Rubrics are confessedly modern) but what has
the testimony of the Scriptures and the most ancient fathers to
authorize it, as I trust I have shewn ; nor is there any thing
wanting in it wherein all other Liturgies agree, except the Lord's
Prayer, which also, as used in this office, wants the testimony of
the Scriptures and the fathers of the three first centuries. So
that no other Liturgy but this has Antiquity, Universality, and
Consent, to vouch for it in all its parts. Renaudotius has, there
fore, very unjustly charged it with interpolations, for there is not
so much as one passage in it that is not agreeable to the Scriptures
and the practice of the most ancient Church : but, as bishop
Hickes says of it : — It is the test and standard by which all
other Liturgies are to be tried. And we have good reason to
believe, as Mr. Johnson says, that if we had the very words in
which St. Peter and St. Paul consecrated the eacharist, it
would not differ in substance from that which is contained in
this most ancient Liturgy. And, indeed, as to the form of con
secration, it is plainly the same in substance in all the Liturgies
here published, though some of them were used by heretics as
well as the orthodox, and some of them were also compiled by
heretics. And their agreement with the orthodox in this matter
is a good evidence of the Universality and Consent of the Church
in these points. For though the testimony of heretics be but a
weak evidence against the doctrine or practice of the Catholic
Church, yet it is a strong testimony for it : the testimony of an
enemy being always reckoned a very good evidence for a man,
though it be scarce a probable evidence against him, since nothing
but the force of truth can be a reasonable inducement to a man to
give testimony in behalf of his enemy. Arid we reckon it a very
good argument for the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures,
that heretics, as well as Catholics, acknowledge and receive them
as the Word of God. Therefore since the Liturgies used by the
heretics, as well as those used by the orthodox, agree with the
Clementine in all things contained in that Liturgy, we cannot

300 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

question but the Universal Church judged that the substance of
that Liturgy, though not the words, was essential to the due
celebration of the eucharist.

§ 26. When I had near finished what I had to say of the
Clementine Liturgy, and shewed its agreement with the testi
mony of the Scriptures, the fathers, and all the Liturgies here
published, I received the sixth volume of Mr. Bingham's
" Ecclesiastical Antiquities," wherein he treats concerning the
manner how the holy eucharist was celebrated in the Primitive
Church, and having translated the Clementine Liturgy, and
there published it as the best exemplar of the Apostolical practice
that has been transmitted to us, he then proceeds to prove every
part of it, from the unanimous testimony of the fathers. I cannot
therefore forbear to transcribe what he has written, to confirm
what has gone before ; since he cannot be supposed to have
searched the fathers with any partial view on this occasion,
forasmuch as the account he has given, is so contrary to his own
practice and so agreeable to ours. In the first place then,
speaking of the mixture, having said, " Yet after all, as there is
no express command for this in the institution, notwithstanding
this general consent of the ancient Church, it is commonly deter
mined by modern divines, as well of the Roman as Protestant
communion, that it is not essential to the sacrament itself, as the
reader that is curious may find demonstrated in Vossius in his
Dissertation on this subject." He then immediately adds, " As
to the ancients, they are not to be blamed in keeping strictly to
this custom, because they thought it a part of the institution.
Upon which account they censured all that made any alterations
in the elements, either by addition, or subtraction, or changing
one element for another. The Aquarians, as we have heard,
were condemned for taking away the wine ; the Armenians and
others for not using water also."* Here his testimony is plain,
that notwithstanding the moderns both of the Roman and Protes
tant communion have thought fit to determine, that a mixed cup
of wine and water is not necessary, yet the ancients were of
another opinion, and believed it to be necessary. I shall observe
farther, that neither Papists nor Protestants condemn the mixture

* Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. vi, p. 619,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 301

as unlawful, so that the case plainly stands thus : The mixture is
by none judged to be unlawful, and the ancient Church, who had
best means of knowing what was required by the institution,
thought it necessary, and practised accordingly, even as early as
Justin Martyr's days, who was contemporary to the immediate
disciples of the Apostles, who would not have thought it neces
sary, if it had not been the practice of the apostles themselves,
whom it is safest to follow in this case. If we do mix the cup,
no one can say we do amiss, for it is on all hands agreed to be
lawful. But if we do not mix it, we are plainly condemned by
the ancients, (who had better means of understanding this matter
than we) as departing from the institution. So that there can be
no danger in mixing the cup, but there may be danger in not
mixing it. And would any man run such an hazard for what
may be helped so very easily ? And if we refuse to partake of an
unmixed cup, we do no more than Mr. Bingham has shewed all
the ancients did. There is good reason to believe an unmixed
cup to be unlawful ; but no modern has so much as pretended
that the mixed cup is so. Therefore I cannot but think it hard
that such as think it necessary, should be denied the mixed cup,
when no body thinks it unlawful. It may perhaps be said, that
the Church of England has not prohibited a mixed cup ; she has
only not enjoined it ; that in some of the public parish Churches
the priest does put water into the sacramental wine, and that we
do not find any have been censured for it. And therefore sup
posing a mixed cup to be necessary, no one need to separate from
the Church of England on that account; for he may have the
mixed cup without separation. But not to insist upon the
strictness of the act of uniformity, with regard to the administra
tion of the sacraments in particular, which expressly forbids to
use any other rite, ceremony, order, form, or manner of cele
brating the Lord's Supper, openly or privately, than is men
tioned and set forth in the said book : consequently since that
book orders only wine to be put into the sacramental cup, to add
water to it is to minister it in another manner than is there
appointed, and so forbidden; and he that does mix the cup,
seems to be liable to be censured for so doing : I say, not to urge
this strict clause in the act of uniformity, this is certain, that the
Church of England having not enjoyed the use of a mixed cup,
if the priest will not mix it, the communicants have no remedy,

302 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

but must receive it unmixed or not at all, how much soever they
are persuaded of the necessity of the mixture. And Mr. Bing-
ham, who no doubt has examined the matter impartially, grants
that the ancient Church thought the mixture necessary ; and 1
am sure, if it was necessary then, it must be so still. Therefore
those who think it necessary have the whole Catholic Church of
their side, till some schoolmen, wiser than all the ancient fathers,
discovered that the whole Church had been under a mistake in
this matter, from the Apostles' days downwards, and the school
men we know were oracles to the Church of Rome, and therefore
it is not to be wondered at, if that Church ran into their notions,
and declared against the necessity of the mixture. And the
second Reformers, who had very little regard to the practice of
the ancient Church, not finding the word water or mixture in the
history of the institution, not only declared against the necessity
of it, but actually laid it aside, which the Church of Rome has
not done in practice. But as the ancients had better means of
knowing what was required in the institution than either Papists
or Protestants at this time, except they will be guided by the
ancients ; I cannot but think the Primitive Church much rather
ought to be followed than either Papists or Reformers. And
this, as I have shewed, is also the declared opinion of the Church
of England, though it has not been so well observed in her
practice as I could wish. And her enemies, as well Protestants
as Papists, have not failed to cast it in their teeth. Thus in the
reign of king Charles II., when books were written to justify the
Church of England, and to shew that she retained those cere
monies which the dissenters quarrelled with, out of conformity to
the practice of the ancient Church, the dissenters immediately
retorted. — We may see how vainly it is pretended that these
ceremonies were retained and imposed to manifest the justice
and equity of the Reformation, by letting their enemies sec
they did not break communion with them for mere indifferent
matters ; or that they left the Church of Rome, no further than
she left the ancient Church, as saith Dr. StUlingfleet ; ivhen
it is manifest, that we left off praging for fcepartcB saints, UjC

unction of UK sicft, UK mixing toatcr toitl) Uje sacramental
tome, UK cfjrism, c.rorcism. UK anointing UK Oapt i>c& person.
crossing UK breast at UK consecration of UK ettefjarist, ant)

UK baptismal toater; with many other things which were

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 303

retained in the Ancient Church, and in the Liturgy of Edward
VI.* And in the very last year Mr. Pierce, the great champion
of the Presbyterians, and who seems to be a man of the most
learning among them, renews the same objection in his answer
to Dr. Nichols. The Doctor had said, This extraordinary
prudence of our Reformers was upon many accounts commended
by all good men ; but upon this more especially, because they
thought it Jit to retain the discipline and ceremonies which
were used most anciently in the Church, and to abrogate those
only which were introduced under the Papal usurpation.^ In
which words he says no more than the Church of England her
self seems to say in her thirtieth Canon. So that the Doctor
here has said nothing but what may be fairly taken as the de
clared doctrine of the Church of England. But Mr. Pierce
answers to this : As to the antiquity of our adversaries, if they
will be consistent with themselves, while they pretend to be
directed by antiquity in restoring purity to religion, why have
they laid aside the nttgtng toatet antJ tome in the cup in the
Lord's Supper, which Justin Martyr, who flourished in the
middle of the second century, testifies was in use in his lime,
in which Cyprian, in the next age, labours to prove to be ab
solutely necessary ? Thus has the Church of England, by lay
ing aside what the Primitive Church believed necessary, exposed
herself to the reproaches of her adversaries, for the inconsistency
of her practice with her received principles. And those who
write in her defence, and endeavour to shew her conformity to
the Primitive Church, have their mouths stopped by her adver
saries, because she so apparently wants the things we plead for,
and in particular the mixed cup. So that I can see no other
way that she can put a stop to these reproaches, but either to
drop her pretences to conformity with the Primitive Church,
and alter that clause in her thirteenth Canon, where she declares,
that she departed from the Churches of Italy, France, Spain,
Germany, or any such like Churches, flttlg in those particular
points wherein they were fallen both from themselves in their
ancient integrity, and from the Apostolical Churches which
were their first founders, or else to restore those usages of the
truly Primitive and Catholic Church, she has been pleased to lay

* * Delaune's Plea for Nonconformists, p. 49.

f Pierce's Vindication of the Dissenters, &c. p. 17 — 19.

304 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

aside to please the Presbyterians, who have only made use of
that compliance to charge her with inconsistency.

§ 27. But to return to Mr. Bingham ; having told us that the
ancients thought the mixture a part of the institution, lie then in
the next chapter proceeds to give us the Liturgic form of minis
tering the holy communion according to the "Apostolical Constitu
tions," the same which is here published under the name of the
Clementine Liturgy., as that which he judges to be the most Pri
mitive form, and in which he can find no interpolations, but
confirms every part of it from testimonies of the ancient fathers.
After taking notice of the fan or fly-flap, which he says may be
let pass as a minute circumstance, about which it is not worth
while to be solicitious to give collateral evidence out of the
ancient writers ; he proceeds thus : — " The next thing mentioned
in the Constitutions, is the use of the sign of the cross, before
the minister proceeds to the consecration. And of this there is
more certain evidence in the ancient writers. For Chrysostom
says expressly, that it was not only used by Christians every day,
but particularly at the holy table, and the ordination of priests,
and that its glory shined with the body of Christ in the mystical
supper. Which implies, that it was used more than once in the
celebration. St. Austin says likewise, that it was used in all
their offices, in consecrating the waters of baptism, in the unction
of confirmation, and in the sacrifice of the eucharist ; without
which none of them were solemnly performed. Next after this,
immediately before the great thanksgiving in the Constitutions,
the priest having given the people another salutation in the words
of St. Paul, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c : and they
answering, And with thy Spirit : the priest goes on and says,
Lift up your hearts : to which the people answer, IVe lift them
up unto the Lord. The priest says again, Let us give thanks
unto the Lord : and the people answer, // is meet and right so
to do. Now this is mentioned by all ecclesiastical writers that
have said any thing of the eucharist or prayer. St. Cyprian calls
it the preface, that was premised by the priest to prepare the
brethren's minds, to pray with an heavenly temper. St. Austin
mentions it above ten times in his writings : the places have been
noted above in the general discourse of Liturgies, and therefore
I need not here repeat them. I will therefore only remark, that

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 305

he says it was the custom of the whole Church throughout the
world, to say daily almost with one voice, We lift up our hearts
unto the Lord: and that therefore the hearts of Christian people
were a sort of heaven, hecause they are daily lifted up to heaven,
whilst the priest says, Lift up your hearts : and they answer,
We lift them up unto the Lord. St. Chrysostom also frequently
mentions the use of this preface in his homilies. The reader
that is curious may find the same forms related in Cyril's
Mystical Catechisms, and Anastasius Sinaita, and Csesarius
Arelatensis, and Ebigius Noviomensis, not to mention the Greek
Liturgies, or any later writers. I only observe further out of the
Council of Milevis, where there is mention made of prefaces
among other prayers, it is commonly supposed by learned men,
that those forms are meant, Lift up your hearts ; We lift them
up unto the Lord. Let us give thanks unto the Lord ; It is
meet and right so to do. Which, as Mabillon observes, in the
old Gallican Liturgy is called Contestatio, because by these
answers the people gave in their attestation or testimony of their
compliance with the priest's exhortation ; declaring that their
hearts were now in heaven, and that it was meet and right to
praise the Lord. After this, the priest went on with the Ivxapi^la,
properly so called, that is, the great thanksgiving to God for all
his mercies both of creation, providence, and redemption ; where
a commemoration was made of all that God had done for man
from the foundation of the world, and more particularly in the
great mystery of redemption : upon which a solemn and magni
ficent glorification of God was framed, always including the
trisagion, or seraphical hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts,
&c., which was sung by the minister and people jointly ; and
then the minister went on alone to finish the solemn thanksgiving.
We have no where else indeed so long a thanksgiving, as is that
in the Constitutions : but the substance of it is not only in the
Liturgies that go under the names of St. James, Chrysostom, and
Basil, but may be discovered in more authentic writings. For
Justin Martyr describing the Christian rites and mysteries, says,
as soon as the common prayers were ended, and they had saluted
one another with a kiss, bread and wine and wrater were brought
to the president ; who receiving them, gave praise and glory to
the Father of all things by the Son and Holy Spirit, and made
tVt TO ro\v, along thanksgiving for the blessings he vouch-

2 R

306 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

safed to bestow upon them. And when he had ended the prayers
and thanksgiving, all the people that were present answered with
acclamation, Amen. After the same manner Irenaeus ; We offer
unto him his own gifts, thereby declaring the communication and
truth both of flesh and spirit. For as the bread, which is of the
earth, after the invocation of God upon it, is no longer common
bread, but the encharist, consisting of two parts, the one earthly,
the other heavenly : so all our bodies, receiving the eucharist,
are no longer corruptible, whilst they live in hopes of a resurrec
tion. But we offer these things to him, not as if he stood in
need of them, but as giving him thanks for his gifts, and sanc
tifying the creature. So Origen says, They eat the bread that
was offered to the Creator with prayer and thanksgiving for the
gifts that he had bestowed on them, which bread was made an
holy body by prayer, sanctifying those that used it with a pious
mind. Cyril of Jerusalem more particularly specifies the sub
stance of this thanksgiving in his Mystical Catechisms, saying,
after this, that is, after we have said, Let us give thanks to the
Lord, and, It is meet and right so to do, we make mention of
the heaven, and earth, and sea, and the sun, moon, and stars,
and all the creatures, rational and irrational, visible and invisible,
angels, archangels, hosts and dominions, principalities and
powers, thrones and cherubim covering their faces, saying with
David, Magnify the Lord with me. We also make mention of
the cherubim which Esaias saw in the Spirit, standing about the
throne of God, and with two wings covering their faces, and
with two their feet, and flying with two, and saying, Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God of hosts. This is much the same with the
thanksgiving in St. James's Liturgy, which was used in the
Church of Jerusalem in this form : // is very meet and right,
becoming us and our duty, that we should praise thee, and
celebrate thee with hymns, and give thanks unto thee, the Maker
of all creatures, visible and invisible, the treasure of all good, the
fountain of life and immortality, the God and Lord of all things,
whom the heavens, and the Heaven of heavens praise, and all
the host of them ; the sun and moon, and whole company of stars ;
the earth and sea, and all that are in them ; the celestial con
gregation of Jerusalem, the Church of the first-born written in
heaven, the spirits of just men and prophets, the souls of martyrs
and apostles, angels and archangels, thrones and dominions,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 307

principalities and powers, the tremendous hosts and cherubim
with many eyes, and seraphim with six wings, with two whereof
they cover their faces, and with two their feet, and with two they
fly, crying out incessantly one to another, and singing with loud
voices the triumphal song of the magnificence of thy glory, Holy,
Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy
glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed be he that cometh in
the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. St. Chrysos-
tom also speaks of this thanksgiving, though he does not give us
the whole form of it, hut only the introduction." * When Mr.
Bingham has thus proved the Universal Primitive use of this
general thanksgiving, which ended with the trisagion or seraphi-
cal hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, &c., he then further observes : —
" Next after this, there follows in the Constitutions a particular
enumeration of the mercies of God vouchsafed to mankind in the
redemption of the world by the death of Christ, and a more spe
cial thanksgiving with respect to them ; wherein also is contained
a sort of Creed, or summary of the chief articles of the Christian
faith : which was all the Creed that the Church in that age made
use of in that service. For as yet the formal repetition of the
baptismal Creed was no part of the communion service, as it was
in after ages ; but only such doctrines were related as were the
subject of a particular thanksgiving for the great mysteries of the
incarnation and redemption. Thus it is represented in the Con
stitutions, with which St. Chrysostom corresponds. For com
menting on those words of the Apostle : — The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ?
He brings in the Apostle thus explaining himself: when I speak
of a blessing, 1 unfold all the treasures of God's beneficence, and
commemorate all his great and glorious gifts. And ho adds, we
also, in offering the cup, recite the ineffable mercies and kindness
of God, and all the good things we enjoy: and so we offer it,
and communicate ; giving him thanks for that he hath delivered
mankind from error ; that he hath made us near who were far off';
that when we were without hope, and without God in the world,
he hath made us the brethren of Christ, and fellow heirs with
him. For these, and all the like blessings, we give him thanks,
and so come to his holy table. We cannot have a plainer proof

* Antiquities of the Christian C.'hiuvh, vol. vi, ji.fUS.

308 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

of a particular thanksgiving than this is, and therefore I shall
seek no further evidence in the case, but proceed to the immediate
form of consecration." * Thus this learned gentleman shews, t
(as 1 have also done before) that besides that general thanksgiving,
concluded with the seraphic hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, &c., there
was also another particular thanksgiving containing a sort of
Creed, and also an enumeration of the mercies of God vouchsafed
to mankind in the redemption of the world by the death of Christ.
And such is that which immediately follows the seraphic hymn
in the communion office lately compiled and published, and
which some are so angry with, though taken from the Liturgy of
St. James, used in the most ancient Church of Jerusalem : which
runs thus, Holiness is thy nature and thy gift, O eternal King !
Holy is thine only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom thou hast made the worlds ! Holy is thine ever-blessed
Spirit, who searcheth all things, even the depths of thine infi
nite perfection ! Here, as Mr. Bingham observes of the most
ancient eucharistic prayers, is a sort of Creed, expressing in this
form of thanksgiving our belief in God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost. Then it proceeds, Holy art thou, Almighty
and merciful God ! whereby we express our belief that these
Three Persons are One God. And so we go on to enumerate his
mercies to mankind. " Thou createdst man in thine own image,
broughtest him into Paradise, and didst place him in a state of
dignity and pleasure : and when he had lost his happiness by
transgressing thy command, thou of thy goodness didst not
abandon and despise him. Thy Providence was still continued,
thy law was given to revive the sense of his duty, thy prophets
were commissioned to reclaim and instruct him : and when, the
fulness of time was come, thou didst send thine only-begotten
Son to satisfy thy justice, to strengthen our nature, and renew
thine image within us. For these glorious ends thine eternal
Word came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Ghost,
born of the blessed Virgin, conversed with mankind, and directed
his life and miracles to our salvation : and when his hour was
come to offer the propitiatory sacrifice on the cross ; when he
who had no sin himself, mercifully undertook to suffer death for
our sins, in the same night that he was betrayed," &c. So we

* Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. vi.p. 658. f Snpr. § 14.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 309

proceed to recite the institution. Thus here is made a short
history of the method, order, and several steps, by which the Son
of God proceeded to work out our redemption, all recited in a
form of praise and thanksgiving, as Mr. Bingham has proved to
have been the practice of the ancient Church. And with this
evxapitia, or particular thanksgiving for the redemption of man
kind, was immediately joined, and is also so joined in the office
lately published, that which Mr. Bingham calls the immediate
form of consecration. Though I should rather say, that the
whole £vx«|0i<rm, or thanksgiving prayer, which is ended with the
petition for the descent of the Holy Spirit, is the form of the con
secration. It is certain, our Saviour gave thanks at the conse
cration, and all the ancient Liturgies, as I have shewed, continue
their thanksgiving till the whole consecration is finished, whether
with the Church of Home, and the Church of England, and the
Lutherans, and the Calvinists, and the learned author of " No
Reason," &c., and his friends ; we place the form of consecration
in the bare recital of the words of institution ; or with bishop
Morton, Mr. Wheatly, and Mr. Bingham, we place it not only in
that recital, but in that recital joined with prayer for the divine
benediction. I say, as the ancients brought all these, that is, the
recital of the words of institution, the oblation, (of which Mr.
Bingham has thought fit to take no notice) and the invocation for
the descent of the Holy Ghost, into their iv-^a^ia or prayer of
thanksgiving, I conceive that they looked upon the whole thanks
giving prayer as making the form of consecration. And therefore
they called the bread and cup the eucharist, which I cannot
persuade myself they would have done, if they had not judged it
to be consecrated with thanksgiving. And that they did call the
bread and mixt wine the eucharist^ even in the Apostolical age,
we learn from Justin Martyr, who says : — This food is called by
us the eucharist.* And it would be very absurd to call that
food the eucharist 9 that is the thanksgiving, if praise and thanks
giving was not used at the consecration of it. Jt is certain from
the history of the institution related in the Scripture, that our
Saviour gave thanks at the consecration. The Primitive and
Universal Church also, as has been proved both by me and Mr.
Bingham, did always use thanksgiving at the consecration, and

* KoJ rj Tpofyi} at'Trj KaAerrcu Trap' rjfjiiv eu^apttta. Just. Mart. Apol, iv. cap 86.

310 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

in particular a thanksgiving for the redemption of the world by
Jesus Christ, according to Christ's command, Do this in remem
brance of me : as if he had said, You have seen me bless the
bread and cup with thanksgiving, do you also bless bread and a
cup with thanksgiving in remembrance of me. So that to me
here seems to be a command to bless or consecrate the elements
with thanksgiving : and the practice of the most Primitive and
Catholic Church was agreeable thereto. However, the learned
Mr. Bingham does not deny even the immediate form of conse
cration to be eucharistical, and therefore I have not said this by
way of opposition to him, who has certainly given a fair account
of the practice of the ancient Church in this matter. But I was
willing to take this occasion to shew the reasonableness of con
secrating in a thanksgiving form, which though I have also done
before, yet being a matter not commonly taken notice of, I could
not but think it proper to remind the reader of it.

§ 28. Mr. Bingham in the next place proceeds to give us the
immediate form of consecration, or that part of the thanksgiving
or eucharistic prayer which seems more immediately to respect
the bread and cup. On which occasion he says : — " Now this
was not anciently a bare repetition of those words, Hoc esf corpus
me am, This is my body, which for many ages has been the current
doctrine of Romish schools ; but a repetition of the history of the
institution, together with prayers to God, that he would send his
Holy Spirit upon the gifts, and make them become the body and
blood of Christ, not by altering their nature and substance, but
their qualities and powers, and exalting them from simple ele
ments of bread and wine, to become types and symbols of Christ's
flesh and blood, and efficacious instruments of conveying to wor
thy receivers all the benefits of his deatli and passion. Thus it
is evidently set forth in the Constitutions, which for the reader's
ease I will here again repeat : — ' We, therefore, in commemoration
of these things which Christ suffered for us, give thanks to thee,
Almighty God, not as Ihou deservest, and as we ought, but as we
are able, so fulfilling his command. For he, in the same night
that he was betrayed, took bread in his holy and immaculate
hands, and looking up to thee his God and Father, he brake it,
and gave it to his disciples, saying, This is the mystery of the
new testament ; take of it, and eat it, this is my body, which is

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 311

broken for many for the remission of sins. Likewise he mixed a
cup of wine and water, and sanctifying it, he gave it unto them,
saying, Drink ye all of this: For this is my blood, which is shed
for many for the remission of sins ; This do in remembrance of
me, For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do
shew forth my death till I come. We therefore being mindful
of his passion, and death, and resurrection from the dead, and
his return into heaven ; and also of his second coming, when he
shall return with glory and power, to judge the quick and the
dead, and to render to every man according to his works ; do offer
unto thee, our king and God, this bread and this cup, according
to his appointment ; giving thanks to thee by him, for that thou
dost vouchsafe to let us stand before thee, and minister unto thee :
And we beseech thee to look propitiously upon these gifts here
set before thee, and to accept them favourably to the honour of
thy Christ, and to send thy Holy Spirit upon this sacrifice, the
Spirit that is witness of the suffering of the Lord Jesus, that it
may make this bread become the body of thy Christ, and this
cup the blood of thy Christ ; that they who partake of it, may be
confirmed in godliness, and obtain remission of sins ; may be de
livered from the devil and his impostures; may be filled with the
Holy Ghost, and made worthy of Christ, and obtain eternal life,
thou being reconciled to them, O Lord Almighty."

This very prayer, (I mean that part which follows the words
of institution) word for word, (as near as two translations made
by two different persons from the same original can be word for
word) is the prayer used in the new communion office, which the
author of " No Sufficient Reason," &c. charges with Popery, nay,
as asserting the doctrine of transubstantiation, beyond the very
Canon of the Mass, as I have before observed : he has since also
thought fit to renew the same charge against this very prayer in
another pamphlet, written in part against my postscript to the
" Necessity of Tradition ;" and that the reader might not over
look it, he has put it in the very beginning of a short preface,
which seems to have been written chiefly for having an oppor
tunity to make that reflection on this prayer. But the learned
Mr. Bingham, it seems, was so short sighted, that he could see
nothing of transubstantiation in it. He quotes this prayer to
prove, that the ancient Church prayed to God, that he would
send his Holy Spirit upon the gifts, and make them become the

312 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

body and blood of Christ. But because they prayed that they
might be made the body and blood, without any limitation or
restriction, he does not therefore infer, as our learned antagonist
does, that they maintained, or were ready to maintain, the doc
trine of transubstantiation, No, he tells us that the ancients did
not understand it so ; the meaning of this petition, as he very
justly observes, was not that he should be made the body and
blood by altering their nature and substance, but their qualities
and powers, and exalting them from simple elements of bread
and wine to become types and symbols of Christ's flesh and
blood, and efficacious instruments of conveying to worthy re
ceivers all the benefits of his death and passion. But our
learned antagonist will have it, that to pray thus, is as much as
C. Du Perron or Bellarmine, or any the most zealous transub-
stantiators, could ever desire, and beyond what is used in their
Canon of the Mass : that those who use this prayer, pray that
the bread may be made our Saviour's body, and the cup his
blood, as formally as the forwardest transubstantialist in
Europe could do it. This is the difference between these two
learned gentlemen, when they both speak of the same petition in
the same prayer. Mr. Bingham finds no transubstantiation in it,
he gives it us as a prayer used by the most Primitive Catholic
Church, and sees nothing there but what is very reconcileable to
the explication before given. But the other learned gentleman
finds direct transubstantiation in the very words, as full as any
transubstantialist whatsoever can desire. But I desire the reader
to consider, in order to make a right judgment between these two
learned gentlemen : the design of Mr. Bingham, in what he says
of this prayer, is only fairly and plainly to set before us the
practice of the ancient Church, and to let us know what was the
form used by them in the consecration of the eucharist, and so he
sets down the prayer they used, and tells us what they understood
by the bread and cup, being made the body and blood of Christ.
And then he proves by a multitude of testimonies, (as I shall
shew immediately) that this very prayer, or one to the same effect,
was used in the Primitive Church : taking occasion from hence
to confute the error of the Church of Rome, which makes the
consecration to consist in those words of our Saviour, This is my
body, This is my blood. But our learned antagonist writes with
another design, and so he can bespatter his adversaries, and

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 313

make the world believe them friends to tran substantiation, (how
much soever they declare against it, as they unanimously do) he
cares not if he makes this prayer to favour that doctrine ; to
favour did 1 say, nay, directly to assert and maintain it, as much
as the most zealous trausubstantiator can desire : not considering
that if he gives up this prayer, as asserting the doctrine of tran-
substantiation, he gives up the whole Primitive Church too, who
always used it, or one to the same effect. Nay, he must give up
bishop Hickes too as a transubstantialist, for he recommends
this prayer in his " Christian Priesthood ;" and one would think
a non-juror should be more tender of his reputation than to give
him so deep a wound through our sides.

But sometimes our zeal blinds us so, that to give our enemy a
wound, we care not though we wound a friend with him. But
perhaps this prayer, as used by the Primitive Church, and as
recommended by bishop Hickes, has no transubstantiation in it ;
but when it is used by us, it must assert and maintain that doc
trine. If this be the case, as I suppose it may, nay must be,
(except this gentleman will condemn both bishop Hickes and
the Primitive Church as transubstantiators) the reader will easily
see what judgment he ought to make on the reflection. And as
this prayer, in the judgment of bishop Hickes, Mr. Binghatn,
and others, gives no countenance to the doctrine of transubstan
tiation, so in the judgment of Mr. Bingham it plainly condemns
a popish doctrine, (as that learned gentleman thinks proper to
call it) which teaches, that the elements are consecrated by the
recital of the words of institution, a doctrine which our learned
antagonist very strenuously defends. And it is in order to refute
this doctrine, that Mr. Bingham refers us to those words which
the other learned gentleman condemns as Popish. For immedi
ately after the recital of the prayer, he says, " Who sees not that
the consecration in this form is made by a repetition of the history
of the institution, and prayer for the coming of the Holy Ghost
on the elements to sanctify them ? And for this there is the con
current testimony of all antiquity. Justin Martin makes the
consecration to consist in thanksgiving and prayers, which being
ended all the people say, 'Amen.' Irenseus says more expressly,
that it is done by invocation of God. For the bread which is
taken from the earth, has the invocation of God upon it, and then
it is no longer common bread, but the eucharist. Origen says,
2 s

314 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. Cyril of Jerusa
lem tells his catechumens, that before the invocation of the Holy
Trinity, the bread and wine of the eucharist is common bread
and wine ; but after the invocation, it is no longer bare bread,
but the body of Christ. As the holy oil after invocation is not
bare oil, but the gift of Christ. So again, after we have sancti
fied ourselves by those spiritual hymns, we then pray the merci
ful God, that he would send forth his Holy Spirit upon the
elements lying on the altar, that he may make the bread the body
of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ : which manifestly
declares that the consecration was made by prayer and invoca
tion. And the same is implied by St. Basil, when he asks,
Which of the saints hath left us in writing the words of the
invocation, by which the bread of the eucharist and the cup of
blessing is consecrated ? Gregory Nyssen, St. Basil's brother,
says, the bread is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
Theophilus of Alexandria, that the bread and wine, which repre
sent the Lord's body and blood upon the table, are consecrated
by invocation and the coming of the Holy Ghost upon them.
And Theodoret most plainly, in one of his dialogues, What do
you call the gift that is offered, before the priest has made the
invocation over it ? Bread made of such seeds. What do you
call it after sanctification ? The body of Christ. The Latin
fathers are as plain in their verdict. St. Ambrose says, the
sacraments which we take, are transformed into flesh and blood
by the mystery of holy prayer. And Optatus, describing the
fury of the Donatists, asserts the same, when he asks them, What
greater sacrilege they could be guilty of, than to put down the
altars of God, where God Almighty was invocated, and the Holy
Spirit came down at the supplication of the priest? St. Jerome
says, it was the peculiar office of the Presbyters to consecrate the
body and blood of Christ by prayer. And again, that prayer was
necessary to this purpose. The author of the book De Sacra-
mentis, under the name of St. Ambrose, gives us the very form
of words used in this prayer : Make this our oblation a chosen,
rational oblation, which is the figure of the body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Juvencus says, Christ himself conse
crated it by prayer. And Gregory the Great was of opinion,
that the Apostles used only the Lord's Prayer as the form of their
consecration. And Cyprian was probably of the same opinion:

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 315

for he thinks that petition in the Lord's Prayer, Give us this day
our daily bread, may be understood both in a spiritual and com
mon sense, to denote the body of Christ, which is our bread,
that we pray may be given us every day. A great many other
fathers speak of the benediction or thanksgiving, as that which
consecrates the eucharist, which is not much different from this,
for the thanksgiving was always a part of the eucharistical
prayers. And therefore some join them both together, as Justin
Martyr and Irenoeus, in the places now mentioned. And so
Origen tells Celsus, that by thanksgiving and prayer they made
bread an holy body, sanctifying such as received and eat it with
a pure mind. And St. Austin, who sometimes calls it barely the
benediction or thanksgiving, in other places says more expressly,
that the eucharist was consecrated by mystical prayer in a solemn
manner, and so received by us unto salvation in memory of our
Lord's suffering for us. And writing against the Donatists, who
denied the validity of the sacraments when they were consecrated
and administered by sinners, he asks them, How then does God
hear a murderer, when he prays either over the water of baptism,
or the oil for unction, or over the eucharist, or over the heads of
those that receive imposition of hands ? Implying, that the con
secration of the eucharist, as well as the rest of the things men
tioned, was performed by prayer. To this mighty cloud of wit
nesses, the Romanists have nothing material to oppose, but a few
mistaken passages of the ancients, which the reader may find
related, with proper answers, by Mr. Aubertine, upon the eucha
rist. I shall only take notice of one, which carries the fairest
pretence, out of Chrysostom, who in one of his homilies, speaks
of the consecration after this manner : It is not man that makes
the elements the body and blood of Christ, but Christ himself
that was crucified for us. The priest stands fulfilling his office, /
and speaking those words ; but the power and graco are of God.
Christ said, This is my body : this word consecrates the element.
And as that Word which said, Increase and multiply, and re
plenish the earth, was spoken but once, yet at all times is
effectual in deed to strengthen our nature to beget children : So
this Word once spoken from that time to this day, and until his
coming again, perfects and consummates the sacrifice on every
table throughout the Churches. The meaning of which is not,
as the Romanists mistake, that the pronouncing of these word*

is

316 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

by the priest, is the thing that makes the sacrifice ; but that
Christ, by first speaking those words, gave power to men to make
his symbolical body ; as by once speaking those words, Increase
and multiply, he gave them power to procreate children. Christ's
words are the original cause of the consecration ; but still prayer,
and not the bare repetition of his words, is the instrumental cause
and means of the sanctification. As Chrysostom says plainly in
another place, where he attributes the consecration of the ele
ments to the invocation of the Spirit, and the Spirit's descent
pursuant to such invocation : What meanest thou, O man, says
he ? When the priest stands by the holy table, lifting up his
h^nds to heaven, and invocaiing the Holy Spirit to come down
and touch the elements, there should then be great tranquillity
and silence. When the Spirit grants his grace, when he comes
down, when he touches the holy elements, when thou seest the
Lamb slain and offered, dost thou then raise a tumult and com
motion, and give way to strife and railing ? In which words, it is
plain, Chrysostom attributes the consecration to the power of
Christ and the Holy Spirit, as the principal and essential cause ;
to prayer and supplication, as the instrumental cause, operating
by way of condition and means, to sanctify the elements accord
ing to Christ's command, by a solemn benediction, and to the
words, This is my body, and This is my blood, as spoken by
Christ in the first institution, implying a declaration of what was
then done, and what should be done by his power and concurrence
to the end of the world. So that in all things relating to the con
secration, we find the practice of the ancients exactly corres
ponding and agreeing to the order prescribed in the Constitutions.
And whereas the author of the Constitutions makes it a very
great part of the consecration prayer, that they who partake of
the eucharist may be confirmed in godliness, and obtain remission
of sins, may be delivered from the devil and his impostors, may
be filled with the Holy Ghost, and be made worthy of Christ,
and obtain eternal life : St. Chrysostom evidently refers to such
a prayer, when he says, In the oblation we offer up our sins, and
say, Pardon us whatever sins we have committed willingly or
unwillingly. We first make mention of them, and then ask
pardon for them. And so it is in the Liturgy, which goes under
Chrysostom's name : — ' We offer unto thee, this rational and un
bloody service, beseeching thec to send thy Holy Spirit upon us

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 317

and these gifts ; make the bread the precious body of thy Christ,
and that which is in the cup, the precious blood of thy Christ ;
transmuting them by thy Holy Spirit, that they may be to the
receivers for the washing of their souls, for pardon of sins, for
participation of the Holy Ghost, for obtaining the kingdom of
heaven, for boldness toward thee, and not for judgment and con
demnation.' " Thus has this truly learned gentleman maintained
and vindicated what we plead for with regard to the consecration.
He shews, that the ancients did not think the elements consecra
ted by a bare recital of the words of institution, which our oppo
nents so zealously contend for: and he condemns that opinion as
a Romish error. And if this be an error in the Church of Rome,
as Mr. Bingham has not only asserted, but proved by a cloud of
witnesses, is it no error in the Church of England, which plainly
maintains the same doctrine ? Mr. Bingham indeed does not
charge the Church of England as holding this doctrine, but it is
very plain from her own Rubric she does so. Whether he intended
to reflect on his own communion, and give it a wound through
the side of the Church of Rome, I do not know : but whether he
intended it or not, it is certain, that he has proved her to be er
roneous in her form of consecration, for want of such a petition,
as our adversaries charge upon us as proper only to be used by
such as believe the doctrine of transubstantiation. Whereas he
shews, that such a petition, or one to the same effect, was always
thought necessary to the consecration. Nay, he commends the
passage in St. Chrysostom's Liturgy, which has the words,
transmuting them by thy Holy Spirit ; and yet I cannot believe
him a friend to transubstantiation. For as much as he in this
very place has so particularly declared against it, where he says,
that this prayer is not to be understood as a petition, that the
elements might be changed by altering their nature and sub
stance, but their qualities and powers, and exalting them
from simple elements of bread and wine to become types and
symbols of Christ's flesh and blood, and efficacious instruments
of conveying to worthy receivers all the benefits of his death and
passion. And we say the very same: we use this petition
as the ancients did, we understand it as they understood it,
in that sense which Mr. Bingham has given of it : and
we leave it to the candid reader, to judge betwixt us and our

318 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

adversaries, whether the most zealous transubstantiator can desire
no more of us.

§ 29. In the next place follows a prayer for all estates and
conditions of men, which Mr. Bingham examines particularly ;
but as there is no dispute about the use of such a prayer for all
that are living in this world, I need not cite what he says with
relation to praying for the Church in general, for the bishops
and clergy, the king and magistrates, &c. But as there is a
dispute about prayer for the dead, I think proper to transcribe
what he says on that head. He says then, " Next after prayer
for kings, followed prayer for the dead, that is, for all that were
departed in the true faith of Christ ; for so it is in the Constitu
tions. We offer to theefor all thy saints, that have lived well-
pleasing in thy sight, from the foundation of the world, for
patriarchs, prophets, holy men, apostles, martyrs, confessors,
bishops, presbyters, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, vir
gins, widows, lay-men, and all whose names thou knowest.
And that this was the general practice of the Church, to pray
for all without exception, appears from the concurrent testimony
of all the writers of the Church. We have heard Arnobius say
already, that they prayed for the living and the dead in general.
And long before him Tertullian speaks of oblations for the dead,
for their birth days, that is, the day of their death, or a new birth
unto happiness, in their annual commemorations. He says,
every woman prayed for the soul of her deceased husband,
desiring that he might find rest and refreshment at present, and
a part in the first resurrection, and offering an annual oblation
for him on the day of his death. In like manner he says, the
husband prayed for the soul of his wife, and offered annual
oblations for her. St. Cyprian often mentions the same practice,
both when he speaks of martyrs and others. For the martyrs,
they offered the oblation of prayer, and of praise and thanks
giving ; for others, prayers chiefly. Those for the martyrs he
calls oblations and sacrifices of commemorations, which they
offered especially on the anniversary days of their martyrdom,
giving God thanks for their victory and coronation. But for
others, they made solemn supplications and prayers, as appears
in what he says of one Geminius Victor, that because he had

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 319

appointed a presbyter to be his executor, contrary to law, no
oblation should be made for his rest or sleep, nor any deprecation
be used in his name, according to custom in the Church. The
author under the name of Origen upon Job, says, they made
devout mention of the saints, and their parents and friends, that
were dead in the faith ; as well to rejoice in their refreshment, as
to desire for themselves a pious consummation in the faith. And
Origen himself says, they thought it convenient to make mention
of the saints in their prayers, and to excite themselves by the
remembrance of them. Cyril of Jerusalem, in describing the
prayer after consecration, says, ' We offer this sacrifice in
memory of all those that are fallen asleep before us; first,
patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, that God by their
intercessions may receive our supplications, and then we pray
for onr holy fathers and bishops, and all that are fallen asleep
before us, believing it to be a considerable advantage to their
souls to be prayed for, whilst the holy and tremendous sacrifice
lies upon the altar.' Epiphanius disputes at large against the
Aerians, who ridicule all prayer for the dead. For they said, if
the prayers of the living will advantage the dead, then it was no
matter for being pious or virtuous ; a man only needed to get
friends to pray for him after death, and he would be liable to no
punishment, nor would his most enormous crimes be required of
him. To whom Epiphanius replies, ' That they had many good
reasons for mentioning the names of the dead, because it was an
argument that they were still in being, and living with the Lord;
because it was some advantage to sinners, though it did not
wholly cancel their crimes ; because it put a distinction between
the perfection of Christ, and the imperfection of all other men :
therefore they prayed for righteous men, fathers, patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, bishops, her
mits, and all orders of men.' And it appears from all the ancient
Liturgies under the names of St. Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory
Nazianzen, and Cyril, that they prayed for all saints, the Virgin
Mary herself not excepted. And it is remarkable, that in the
old Roman Missal, they were used to pray for the soul of St.
Leo, as Hinomar, a writer of the ninth age informs us, who says
the prayer ran in this form: Grant, O Lord, that this oblation
may be of advantage to the soul of thy servant Leo, which thou
hast appointed to be for the redemption of the sins of the whole

3-20 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

world. But this was thought so incongruous in the following
ages, that in the later Sacramentaries 01 Missals, it was changed
into this form : Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that this obla
tion may be of advantage to us by the intercession of St. Leo ;
as pope Innocent the Third assures us it was in his time. And
such another alteration was made in pope Gregory's Sacramen-
tarium. For in the old Greek and Latin edition, there is this
prayer : ' Remember, O Lord, all thy servants, men and women,
who have gone before us in the seal of the faith, and sleep in the
sleep of peace : we beseech thee, O Lord, to grant them, and all
that rest in Christ, a place of refreshment, light and peace,
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.' But in the new
reformed Missal it is altered thus: ' Remember, Lord, thy servants
and handmaids N. and N. that have gone before us,' &c. That
they might not seem to pray for saints as well as others that were
in purgatory, which makes it very probable, that St. Cyril's
Catechism has also been tampered with, and a clause put in,
which speaks of their praying to God by the intercession of
patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs: since the ancient
Liturgies prayed for them as well as for all others. St. Chrysos-
tom says expressly, they offered for the martyrs. And so it is in
his Greek Liturgy: 'We offer unto thee this reasonable service
for the faithful deceased, our forefathers, fathers, patriarchs,
prophets, and apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, religious
persons, arid every spirit perfected in the faith ; but especially
for our most holy, immaculate, most blessed lady, the mother of
God and ever Virgin Mary.' Though, as bishop Usher has
observed, some of the Latin translators have also given a perverse
turn to these words, rendering them thus : ' We offer unto thee
this reasonable service for the faithful deceased, our forefathers,
and fathers, by the intercession of the patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, martyrs, and all the saints.' For it sounded ill to the
Latin ears, to hear St. Chrysostom say, the ancient Church
prayed for saints and martyrs. And yet he says it, not only in
the fore-mentioned places, but over and over again in others.
In his forty-first Homily upon the first of Corinthians, speaking
against immoderate sorrow for the death of sinners, he says, they
are not so much to be lamented, as succoured with prayers and
supplications, and alms, and oblations. For these things were
not designed in vain, neither is it without reason that we make

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 321

mention of those that are deceased in the holy mysteries, inter
ceding for them to the Lamb that is slain, to take away the sins
of the world ; but that some consolation may hence arise to
them. Neither is it in vain, that he who stands at the altar when
the tremendous mysteries are celebrated, cries, We offer unto
thee for all those that are asleep in Christ, and all that make
commemorations for them. For if there were no commemorations
made for them, these things would not be said. Let us not therefore
grow weary in giving them our assistance, and offering prayers
for them : for the common propitiation of the whole world is now
before us. Therefore we now pray for the whole world, and name
them with martyrs, with confessors, with priests, for we are all
one body, though one member be more excellent than another;
and we may obtain a general pardon for them by our prayers, by
our alms, by the help of those that are named together with them.
He supposes here, that saints prayed for sinners, though at the
same time the Church prayed both for the saints, and martyrs,
and sinners, together. In another place he says, prayers were
made in general for all those that were deceased in the faith, and
none but Catechumens, dying in a voluntary neglect of baptism,
were excluded from the benefit of them. At that time, says he,
when all the people stand with their hands lift up to heaven, and
all the company of priests with them, the tremendous sacrifice
lies upon the altar, how shall \ve not move God to mercy, when
we call upon him for those that are deceased in the faith ? I
speak of them only : for Catechumens are not allowed this conso
lation, but are deprived of all assistance, except only giving alms
for them. This then was a punishment inflicted on the Catechu
mens, of which Chrysostom speaks in other places ; and it appears
to have been a settled rule by some ancient Canons of the Church,
of which I had occasion to speak in a former book, to deny
Catechumens the benefit of the Church's prayers after death.
Chrysostom says again, that a bishop is to be intercessor for all
the world, and to pray to God to be merciful to the sins of all
men, not only the living but the dead also. Cassian says also,
the Biothanati, as they called them, that is, men that laid violent
hands upon themselves, were excluded from the benefit of the
Church's prayers. And therefore when one Hero, an old hermit,
had, by the delusions of Satan, cast himself into a deep well,
Paphnutius the abbot could hardly be prevailed upon to let him
2 T

322 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

be reckoned any other than a self-murderer, and unworthy of the
memorial and oblation that was made for all those that were at
rest in peace. Which is also noted in the Council of Braga,
where Catechumens and self-murderers are put in the same class
together, as persons that deserved neither the solemnities of
Christian burial, nor the usual prayers and commemoration that
was made for the rest of Christians at the altar. St. Austin
indeed had a singular opinion in this matter about prayer for the
dead : for he thought the martyrs were riot properly to be prayed
for as other men, because they were admitted to the immediate
fruition of heaven. There goes a common saying under his name,
(which pope Innocent the 1IL quotes as Holy Scripture) that he
who prays for a martyr, does injury to the martyr, because they
attained to perfection in this life, and have no need of the prayers
of the Church, as all others have. Therefore he says, when they
are named at the altar, and their memorials celebrated, they did
not commemorate them as persons for whom they prayed, as they
did all others that rested in peace, but rather as men that prayed
for the Church on earth, that we might follow their steps, who
attained to the perfection of charity in laying down their lives for
Christ, according to that aphorism of Christ himself, Greater
love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his
friend. Upon this account, St. Austin thought the oblations
and alms, that were usually offered in the Church for the dead
that had received baptism, were only thanksgivings for such as
were very good, and propitiations for those that were not very
bad ; and for such as were very evil, though they were no help to
them when they were dead, vet they were some consolation to the
living. But as bishop Usher rightly observes, this was but an
harsh interpretation of the prayers of the Church, that one and
the same act of praying should be a petition for some, and for
others a thanksgiving only : and therefore it is more reasonable
to suppose, that the Church designed to pray for all ; especially
since St. Austin himself owns that the Church made supplications
for all that died in the society of the Christian and Catholic faith,
as all the ancient forms of prayer do manifestly evince beyond all
possibility of exception. Supposing then that the ancient Church
made prayers for saints and martyrs, as well as all others, it re
mains to be enquired, upon what grounds and reasons she
observed this custom ; whether upon a modern supposition of a

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 3*23

purgatory fire, or upon other reasons more agreeable to sucli a
general practice ? That she did not do it upon supposition of
purgatory, appears evidently from what has been already observed
out of the public offices of the Church, that she prayed for all the
saints, martyrs, confessors, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and even
the Virgin Mary herself, and all other holy men and women from
the foundation of the world, who were supposed to be in a place
of rest and happiness, and not in any place of purgation and
torment. And this appears farther from the private prayers made
by St. Ambrose for the emperors Theodosius, and Valentinian,
and Gratian, and his own brother Saturus, and the directions he
gives to Faustinus not to weep for his sister, but to make prayers
and oblations for her. For all these were persons of whom he
had not the least doubt, but that their souls were in rest and hap
piness. As all the funeral service of the ancients supposes,
where they usually sung these verses of the psalms, Return again
unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath rewarded thee :
and again, / will fear no evil, because tliou art with me : and
again, Thou art my refuge from the affliction that compasseth
me about. Which St. Chrysostom often bids his hearers remem
ber, that whilst they prayed for the deceased party, they should
not weep immoderately, as the heathen did, but give God thanks
for taking him to a place of rest and security : which is utterly
inconsistent with their going into the dreadful pains of purgatory.
St. Austin both prayed in private for his mother Monicha, and
also speaks of the Church's prayers for her at her funeral, and
afterward at the altar ; and yet he made no question of her going
hence from a state of piety here to a state of joy and felicity here
after. And after the same manner Gregory Nazianzen prays
God, to receive the soul of his brother Caesarius, who was lately
regenerated by the Spirit in baptism. It is certain, these prayers
were not founded on a belief of purgatory fire after death, but
upon a supposition that they were going to a place of rest and
happiness, which was their first reason for praying for them, that
God would receive them to himself, and deliver them from con
demnation. 2. Upon the same presumption some of their prayers
were always eucharistical, or thanksgiving for their deliverance
out of the troubles of this sinful world ; as appears not only from
the forementioned testimonies of St. Chrysostom, but from the
author under the name of Dionysius, who on describing their

32-1 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

funeral service, speaks of the ivxn ivxap&fiptos, the eucharistical
prayer, whereby they gave God thanks not only for martyrs, but
all Christians that died in the true faith and fear of God.

" A third reason for praying for them, was, because they justly
conceived all men to die with some remainders of frailty and
corruption, and therefore desired that God would deal with them
according to his mercy, and not in strict justice according to
their merits : for no one was then thought to have any real merit
or title to eternal happiness, but only upon God's promises and
mercy. St. Austin discourses excellently upon this point in the
case of his mother Monicha, after this manner : ' I now pour out
unto thee, my God, another sort of tears for thy handmaid,
flowing from a trembling spirit, in consideration of the danger
that every soul is in, that dies in Adam. For although she was
made alive in Christ, and lived so in the days of her flesh, as to
bring glory to thy name by her faith and practice ; yet I dare not
say, that from the time she was regenerated by baptism, no word
came out of her mouth against thy commands : and thou hast told
us by him who is truth itself, that whosoever shall say to his
brother, Tlioufool, shall be in danger of hell fire. And woe to
the most laudable life of man, if thou shouldst sit and examine it
without mercy. But because thou art not extreme to mark what
is done amiss, \ve have hope and confidence to find some place
and room for indulgence with thee. But whoever reckons up his
true merits before thee, what does he more than recount thy own
gifts ? O that all men would know themselves, and they that
glory, glory in the Lord ! I therefore, O my praise, and my life,
the God of my heart, setting aside a little her good actions, for
which I joyfully give thee thanks, now make intercession for the
sins of my mother. Hear me, through the medicine of his wounds
who hanged upon the tree, and now sitteth at thy right hand, to
make intercession for us.' He adds a little after, that he believed
God had granted what he asked : yet he prays, that ' the lion
and the dragon might not interpose himself either by his open
violence or subtlety ; for she would not answer, that she was no
debtor, lest the crafty adversary should convict her and lay hold
of her ; but she would answer that her sins wrere forgiven her by
him, to whom no man can return what he gave to us without any
obligation. Let her therefore rest in peace with her husband ;
and do thou, my Lord God, inspire all those thy servants that

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 325

read this, to remember thy handmaid Monicha at thy altar with
Patricius her consort.' This was not a prayer for persons in the
pains of purgatory, but for such as rested in peace, only without
dependence upon their own merits, and with an humble reliance
upon God's mercy, that he would not suffer them to be devoured
by the roaring lion, nor deal extremely with them for the sins of
human frailty. 4. Another like reason for these prayers, is that
which we have heard before out of Epiphanius, that it was to put
a distinction between the perfection of Christ, and the imperfec
tion of all other men, saints, martyrs, apostles, prophets, confess
ors, &c. he being the only person, for whom prayer was not then
made in the Church. 5. They prayed for all Christians, as a
testimony both of their respect and love to the dead, and of their
own belief of the soul's immortality; to shew, as Epiphanius
words it in the same place, that they believed that they who were
deceased were yet alive, and not extinguished, but still in being,
and living with the Lord. 6. Whereas the soul is but in an
imperfect state of happiness till the resurrection, when the whole
man shall obtain a complete victory over death, and by the last
judgment be established in an endless state of consummate happi
ness and glory ; the Church hath a particular respect to this in
her prayers for the righteous, that both the living and the dead
might finally attain this blessed estate of a glorious resurrection.
It is observed by some, that there are some prayers yet extant in
the Roman Mass, which are conformable to this opinion, as
that which prays, that God would absolve the souls of his servants
from every bond of sin, and bring them to the glory of the
resurrection, fyc. All these were general reasons for praying
for the dead, without the least intimation of their being tormented
in the temporary pains of a purgatory fire.

" Besides which they had some particular opinions which
tended to promote this practice. For first, a great many of the
ancients believed that the souls of all the righteous, except mar
tyrs, were sequestered out of heaven in some place invisible to
mortal eye, which they called Hades, or Paradise, or Abraham's
bosom, a place of refreshment and joy, where they expected a
completer happiness at the end of all things. This is the known
opinion of Hermes Pastor, Justin Martyr, Pope Pius, Irena3us,
Tertullian, Origen, Caius Romanus, Victorinus Martyr, Nova-
tian, Lactantius, Hilary, Ambrose, Gregory Nyssen, Prudentius,

326 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Austin, and Chrysostom. Therefore in praying for the dead,
they may be supposed to have some reference to this, and to
desire that the souls of the righteous, thus sequestered for a time,
might at last be brought to the perfect fruition of happiness in
heaven. 2. Many of the ancients held the opinon of the Millennium,
or the reign of Christ a thousand years upon earth before the final
day of judgment. And they supposed likewise, that men should
rise, some sooner, some later, to this happy state, according to
their merits and preparations for it. Arid therefore some of them
prayed for the deceased on this supposition, that they might ob
tain a part in this resurrection, and a speedier admittance into this
kingdom ; it being reckoned a sort of punishment not to be ad
mitted with the first that should rise to this state of glory. Ter-
tullian plainly refers to this, when he says, every little offence is
to be punished by delaying men's resurrection. And therefore
he says, they were wont to pray for the souls of the deceased,
that they might not only rest in peace at present, but also obtain
part in the first resurrection. And for this reason St. Ambrose
prayed for Gratian and Valentinian, that God would raise them
with the first, and recompense their untimely death with a timely
resurrection. And he says elsewhere, that they that come not to the
first resurrection, but are reserved unto the second, shall be burned
until they fulfil the time between the first and second resurrec
tion ; or if they have not fulfilled that, they shall remain longer
in punishment. Therefore let us pray that we may obtain a part
in the first resurrection. Bishop Usher also shews out of some
Gothic Missals, that the Church had anciently several prayers
directed to this very purpose. 3. Many of the ancients believed
that there would be a fire of probation, through which all must
pass at the last day, even the prophets and apostles, and even
the Virgin Mary herself not excepted : which is asserted not only
by Origen, Irenseus, and Lactantius, but also St. Ambrose, who
says after Origen, that all must pass through the flames, though
it be John the Evangelist, though it be Peter. The sons of
Levi shall be purged by fire, Ezekiel, Daniel, $c. And these
having been tried by fire, shall say, We have passed through fire
and water. And St. Hilary, much after the same manner, They
that are baptized with the Holy Ghost, are yet to be perfected
by the fire of judgment. For so he interprets those words of the
Evangelist, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 327

fire. And again, Do we desire the day of judgment, in which
we must undergo the exact scrutiny of fire : in which we must
give an account of every idle word: in which those grievous
punishments, for expiating souls from sin, must be endured ? If
the Virgin herself, who conceived God in her womb, must
undergo the severity of judgment, who is so bold as to desire to
be judged by God ? There are many like passages in Gregory
Nazianzen, and Nyssen, St. Jerome, and St. Austin, which the
Romish writers commonly produce for the fire of purgatory,
when they plainly relate to this purging sacrament, as Origeii
calls it, or in St. Austin's language, the purging pains of the fire
of judgment at the last day. And the fear of this was another
reason of their praying for the dead. 4. Some of the ancients
thought likewise, that the prayers of the Church were of some
use to mitigate the pains of the damned souls, though not effec
tual for their total deliverance. And lastly, that they served to
augment the glory of the saints in happiness. St. Austin says,
they were of use to render the damnation of the wicked more
tolerable. And this was the opinion of Prudentius and St.
Chrysostom, who advise men to pray for the dead on this account,
that it would bring some consolation to them, though but a little;
or if none at all to them, yet it would be accepted of God as a
pleasing sacrifice from those that offered it. And the like may
be read in Paulinus, and the author of the Questions to Antiochus,
under the name of Athanasius. St. Chrysostom says farther,
that their prayers and alms were of use to procure an addition to
the rewards and retribution of the righteous. These are all the
reasons we meet with in the ancients for praying for souls
departed, none of which have any relation to their being tor
mented in the fire of purgatory, but most of them tend directly to
overthrow it. Whence we may safely conclude, that though the
ancients generally prayed for the dead, at least from the time of
Tertullian, who first speaks of it ; yet they did it not upon those
principles which are now so stiffly contended for in the Romish
Church. Which is also evident from many ancient forms still
remaining in the Mass Book, and the Liturgies of the modern
Greeks, who continue to pray for the dead without any belief
of purgatory, as it were easy to demonstrate out of their Rituals,
but that it is wholly foreign to the design of the present dis
course.

3'28 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

§ 30. Thus this very worthy and learned gentleman has
shewed the practice and opinion of the ancients, as to three of
the points contended for. He owns that the ancients believed
the mixture of the sacramental cup to be necessary, and that
they condemned those who administered only wine, as well as
those who administered only water. He proves, that they did
not believe that the eucharist was consecrated by the bare recital
of the institution, as the Church of Rome maintains, which he
particularly refutes on this occasion, shewing that the Primitive
and Universal Church believed the consecration to be made by
the Holy Spirit, and that it was necessary to pray for a particular
benediction of the elements. And he also has proved the univer
sal practice of prayer for the dead, and has brought a citation
out of Origen for that purpose, a father who flourished but a little
after Tertullian, and before St. Cyprian, who was a catechist of
the school of Alexandria in Egypt, and ordained a priest in
Palestine; so that his testimony concerning prayers for the dead,
is a testimony out of the province of Africa, and shews that
prayer for the dead was not peculiar to that province; as the
learned author of "No Reason" pretends it to have been during
the three first centuries, for no other reason than because he had
found only African fathers cited for this practice before the
Council of Nice. Indeed, as to the oblation, he has dropped
that point, and seems industriously to have avoided taking any
notice of it, for what reason I cannot say ; but his citations prove
that as well as any of the rest. Thus the consecration prayer he
cites from the " Constitutions," has the ancient form of oblation
clearly expressed in it : We offer to thee, our King and God,
this bread and this cup, according to his appointment. So
Irena3us, as he also has cited him, says, We offer unto him his
own gifts. And Origen likewise, They eat the bread that was
offered to the Creator. And St. Chrysostorn says, The bishop
stands at this holy table to present our rational service, and
offer the unbloody sacrifice. And the same father again, speak
ing of the eucharist, says, So we offer and communicate. And
Theodoret says, What do you call the gifts that are offered ?
All these passages are produced by Mr. Bingham in his citations,
to prove that thanksgiving and prayer were always used in the
consecration ; and I conceive they also prove that the elements
were likewise offered at the same time ; and he might have given

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 329

a great many more evidences to the same purpose, if he had
pleased, as the reader may be satisfied from Mr. Johnson's
" Appendix to his Unbloody Sacrifice," where he will find that
there is scarce a father of the Church, for the first five or six
centuries, that has not given his testimony to the oblation ; and
therefore Mr. Bingham has forborne to speak of it, not for want
of sufficient evidence as to this point, as well as all the rest, but
designedly and for some particular reason. Perhaps it might be
to avoid declaring his thoughts upon a point which was in dispute
betwixt Mr. Johnson and his opponents, and was but just ended
at the time when Mr. Bingham was writing the two volumes of
his antiquities ; and he could scarce have mentioned the practice
and opinion of the ancient Church about it, without bringing
himself into the controversy, which I suppose he was unwilling
to do. And yet so numerous are the testimonies for the oblation,
that he could not prove what he intended to shew us of the
practice of the ancient Church, with regard to the eucharistical
service, without citing some of them. But the other three points
were not made the subject of a public controversy, till we may
reasonably believe the greatest part of Mr. Bingham's sixth
volume was written. Besides, it was a controversy managed,
not by one party of the public communion of the Church of
England and another, as the controversy about the oblation was,
but by the non-jurors amongst themselves, and perhaps Mr.
Bingham might know nothing at all of such a controversy ; or if
he did, it being only among persons with whom he looked upon
himself to have no concern, he thought he might deliver a faithful
account of those matters without engaging in the dispute. And
I conceive he has given a very fair account of the practice and
opinion of the Primitive Church in three of the controverted
points, bating that he makes the opinion of the souls being
sequestered out of heaven in some place invisible to mortal eye,
which they called Hades, Paradise, or Abraham's bosom, a
place of refreshment and joy, where they expected a completer
happiness at the end of all things, to have been a particular
opinion ; whereas it was undoubtedly Catholic or Universal, and
founded upon the authority of Scripture : and speaks of prayer
for the dead as only a general practice, as if there had been
some of the ancients who did not close with the practice ;
whereas excepting Ae'rius the Heretic, who was condemned for
2 u

330 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

it, I believe he will not find so much as one that declared against
this practice, or will appear not to have observed it, from the
Apostles' days to the Reformation. For as to Hades, or the
separate state of souls out of heaven, I trust I have already
proved it from Scripture, and I conceive no one can prove the
article of our Saviour's descent into hell or Hades, but he must
allow that separate state, unless he will say that our Saviour went
into the hell of the damned, which is contrary to our Saviour's
own words to the thief on the cross, This day shall tlwu be with
me in Paradise. Now if the soul of our Saviour went into Hades
or Paradise, and continued there till his resurrection, and the
soul of the penitent thief went thither with him, this is a certain
evidence, that the souls of pious persons go also to Hades, and
are detained there till the resurrection. And this being the
opinion of Hermes Pastor, who was contemporary with the
Apostles, of Justin Martyr who lived but fifty years after the
Apostles, of pope Pius his contemporary, of Irena)us who flou
rished less than thirty years after them, of Tertullian who was
within thirty years of the age of Irenajus, of Origen who was not
forty years junior to Tertullian, of Caius Romanus who was his
senior, of Victorinus Martyr who was contemporary to Tertullian,
of Novatian who lived within twenty years after Origen, and of
Lactantius who lived within fifty years of Novatian, and before
the Council of Nice, as Mr. Bingham asserts it to have been,
and it does not appear that in this they delivered any opinion
contrary to the doctrine of the Church in their own times, as I
am well assured they did not ; this ought not to be reckoned as
any particular opinion of these fathers, but as the approved
doctrine of the Church in the most Primitive ages down to the
Council of Nice, and is founded upon clear authority of the Holy
Scriptures. Neither does it appear from any of the Ante-Nicene
fathers, that they believed the martyrs to be carried immediately
into heaven after their decease, only that they believed them to
be in a better part of Hades or Paradise, in which are many
mansions, where they enjoyed a greater degree of happiness and
glory than other good men who had not received that crown.
And as Hilary, Ambrose, Gregory Nyssen, Prudentius, Austin,
and Chrysostom, maintained this doctrine after the Council of
Nice, to the beginning of the fifth century, as Mr. Bingham also
tells us they did, and I believe he will find none to contradict it

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 331

during those ages ; we may safely conclude, that it was the
doctrine of the Church till that time, and therefore is not to be
called a particular opinion, as he has been pleased to term it.
Then as to his calling the ancient practice of praying for the
dead, a general practice, the foregoing Liturgies are an undoubted
evidence, that the practice was not only general, but universal,
and that it was no where omitted in the eucharistical service till
the Reformation.

§ 31, There is one passage more in this part of Mr. Binghatn's
learned book which I cannot forbear to transcribe, relating to the
form of consecration. He says, " There is one petition in the
deacon's bidding-prayer, after the consecration in the Constitutions,
which is not to be passed over in silence, that is, that God would
receive the gift that was then offered to him, to his altar in heaven,
as a sweet smelling savour, by the mediation of his Christ. This
form seems as ancient as Irenaeus : for he says, we have an altar
in heaven, and thither our prayers and oblations are directed.
And so it is in all the Greek Liturgies, with a small variation.
And frequently in the Mozarabic Liturgy, and the old Gothic
Missal published by Mabillon, there are prayers for the descent
of the Holy Ghost, to sanctify the gifts, and make them the body
and blood of Christ, even after the repetition of the words, This is
my body, and This is my blood ; which evidently shews, that the
ancient formers of the Liturgy did not think the consecration to
be effected by the bare repetition of those words, but bv prayer
for the descent of the Holy Ghost on the elements of bread and
wine. And it is very remarkable, that even in the present Canon
of the Roman Mass, there is still such a prayer as this remaining
after what they call consecration : the priest offering the host,
says, Be pleased to look on these tilings with a favour able and
propitious eye, as tliou wast pleased to accept the gifts of Abel
thy righteous servant. He adds, We beseech thee, Almighty
God, to command that these things may be carried by the hands
of thy holy angels to thy altar on high. Concluding, By Christ
our Lord, by whom thou dost always create, sanctify, quicken,
and bless these good things unto us. These words in this prayer,
as our polemical writers have rightly observed, were used before
transubstantiation was invented, and when the consecration was
thought to be made by prayer, and not barely by pronouncing the

332 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

words, This is my body. And then they were good sense, when
they were said over bread and wine, to consecrate them into the
memorial and symbols of Christ's body and blood. But now they
are become absurd and contrary to Primitive intention. For how
can the real body and blood of Christ be called these gifts ? or be
..'. compared to the sacrifice of Abel, who offered a beast ? How
v can men pray (without indignity to the Son of God) that the
sacrifice of God's only Son may be as acceptable to God, as the
sacrifice of Abel was ? Or how does Christ, who sits at the right
hand of the Father, need the mediation of angels to be carried or
presented to his Father at the heavenly altar ? With what
propriety of speech can Christ be called all these things ? And
the good things which God createth always, and qitickeneth
and sanctifieth always ? Doth God create, and quicken, and
bless Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ ? It is proper to say this of
the gifts, supposing them still to be real bread and wine ; but
altogether improper, if they are transubstantiated into the natural
ilesh and blood of Christ. Whence we may conclude, that the
first compilers of this prayer knew nothing of the new doctrine of
transubstantiation, which makes this prayer absurd in every
syllable of it ; to enter here no further into a debate concerning
the change which is made in the elements by consecration, which
every one knows where to find discussed at large in our polemical
writers, and something will be said of it hereafter." * Thus this
learned gentleman has shewed from our polemical writers, what
I have also before shewed from the Greek writers, t that the popish
doctrine of the consecration of the eucharist, by pronouncing those
words, This is my body, This is my blood, though positively
asserted in the present Rubrics of the Roman Missal, is yet utterly
inconsistent with their present Canon of the Mass, and in
particular with this prayer, as Cabasilas and other Greeks have
objected to them. To which I do not find they have been ever
able to return a satisfactory answer : neither, indeed, can they do
it. But if it be necessary that there should be a prayer or petition
to consecrate the elements after the history of the institution has
been recited, as I conceive is the consequence of Mr. Bingham's
arguments, and all the Liturgies, even the Canon of the Mass
itself, shew such a prayer to have been constantly used in all

* Antiquities of the Christian Church, p. 706. f Supr. § 18.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 333

Churches, from the beginning of Christianity down to the
Reformation, so that the elements may be consecrated or sanctified
by prayer joined to the Word of God, according to this universal
practice, agreeable to this Scripture doctrine, that all food (and
surely this spiritual food more especially) is sanctified by the
Word of God and prayer ; how can the form of consecration in
the Church of England be justified, where no prayer is added
after this Word of God is recited, but that Word concludes all,
and the priest, after he has pronounced it, proceeds immediately
to receive and distribute the elements, as if nothing more was
required ? But Mr. Bingham has shewed and proved, that a
consecrating petition is required, and that it was always used by
the Church after the words of institution had been pronounced,
and that even by the Church of Rome herself. So that, according
to him, the fault of that Church in this point is not that she wants
a consecrating petition after the words of Christ, but that she has
taught and maintains a doctrine which renders that petition useless,
as being utterly inconsistent with that doctrine. But the Church
of England is more consistent with herself in this matter ; for as
she teaches in her Rubric, that the consecration is performed by
a bare recital of the history of the institution, so she has ordered
nothing to follow it. But then Mr. Bingham's arguments, which
prove the consecration to be made by the prayer for the descent of
the Holy Ghost, which follows the recital of the history of the
institution in all the Liturgies, proves as much against the Church
of England as it does against the Church of Rome, and shews her
consecration to be defective in this point. However, I do by no
means charge him with any such intention, and do believe that
his just zeal against the Church of Rome, for teaching a doctrine
so contrary to the doctrine and practice of the whole Primitive
Church, even of their own Church before transtibstantiation was
invented, caused him not to consider that his own Church
maintained the same doctrine, and that he wounded her also
through the side of the Church of Rome. But as he has proved
the premises, the consequences must follow ; and if the Church
of Rome be erroneous in this particular, as he has abundantly
proved, I know not how he will excuse the Church of England,
which maintains the same doctrine, and has no such prayer, or
any thing equivalent to it, in her whole communion office, as he
pleads for the necessity of. So that he has said as much on this

334 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

occasion as we have done, excepting he has applied it only against
the Church of Rome, though it equally affects the Church of
England. And however this learned gentleman differs from us
in his own practice, it is plain he differs not from us in his account
of the practice of the Primitive Church. He says upon three of
• the points disputed, the very same that we do : — That the ancients
kept strictly to the custom of mixing water with the sacramental

wine, focattse tf)£g tljougijt it a part of tf)e institution* Upon

which account they censured all that made any alteration in
the elements, either by addition or substruction.* That the
consecration anciently was not a bare repetition of those words,
This is my body, which for many ages has been the current
doctrine of the Romish schools, but a repetition of the history
of the institution, together with prayers to God, that he would
send his Holy Spirit upon the gifts, and make them become the
body and blood of Christ.-^ That the ancients did not think
the consecration effected by the bare words, This is my body,
This is my blood, but by prayer for the descent of the Holy
Ghost upon the elements of bread and ivine.% And that it was
the general (he might have said the universal) practice of the
Church to pray for all the faithful deceased without exception,
appears from the concurrent testimony of all the writers of the
Church. || And in all these three points he also sheweth, that
the Church of Rome, either in doctrine or practice, has deviated
from the Primitive Church. For as to the mixture of water with
the wine in the sacramental cup, he says, Notwithstanding this
general consent of the ancient Church, it is commonly determined
by modern divines, as well of the Roman as Protestant commu
nion, that it was not essential to the sacrament itself. §

Thus he shews, that though the Roman Church retains the
mixture in her practice, she differs from the ancient Church in
doctrine, by not holding it to be necessary or essential. So, as
to the consecration, he says, she has a consecration prayer after
the repetition of the history of the institution, U and yet teaches
that the consecration is made only by the pronouncing those words,
TJiis is my body, This is my blood. He also shews, that the
ancients prayed for all the faithful deceased without exception:**
That the ancient Church prayed for saints and martyrs : ft

* P. 619. f P. 659. 661. } P. 767. || P. 672.

§ P. 619. ^ P. 707. 659. ** P. 672. ft p- 676-

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 335

but that this sounded ill to the Latin ears ; that is, those of the
modern Roman communion : that the Romanists had altered
their own Missal since the ninth age, when there was a prayer in
it for the soul of St. Leo, which some time after they changed to
another, importing that they might receive advantage by his
intercession* Thus has this learned gentleman proved three of
the points we plead for, to be entirely agreeable to the doctrine
and practice of the ancient Church, and also disagreeable to the
doctrine of the present Church of Rome : notwithstanding our
adversaries are pleased to charge us with popery, for desiring to
have them restored. Indeed he has omitted to say any thing of
the oblation ; but the communion office in the Apostolical Con
stitutions, which we call the Clementine Liturgy, proves this as
well as the other points. And Mr. Bingham has given us that
Liturgy as the test or standard of the practice of the ancient
Church, and proved every part of it, from most authentic evidence,
to be agreeable to the doctrine and practice of the most Primitive
Church. And I have thought proper to transcribe most of what
this learned gentleman has said on this occasion, because he is a
person who has not entered into this controversy, and I am
persuaded had heard nothing of it when he wrote this part of his
book ; and I trust the reader will think that he is wholly disin
terested in the matter, and consequently what he says will be of
greater weight. I have not put down in the margin the passages
of the fathers he refers us to, for every thing he cites from them,
but he has done it himself, and 1 desire the reader to consult his
very useful book, and hope that what I have cited from it will be
an inducement to him to consult the book itself. And when he
does so, he will also find the charge of Renaudotius, against the
Liturgy or communion office in the Constitutions, is without any
foundation ; who says, (as 1 have observed near the beginning of
this Dissertation) f not only that the book of the Constitutions
has been interpolated in several places (which I do not know any
one denies, not even Mr. Whiston himself, though he has advanced
them to an authority equal with, or even above the Canonical
Scriptures, in which I hope he has no followers) but has accused
the Liturgy or communion office of being interpolated rather more
than any other part of that book. His words, as they are urged

* P. 674. f Dissert, de Liturg. Orient. Orig. p. 10.

336 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

again by an ingenious gentleman, are these: — Which judgment,
(that is, that the Constitutions have been depraved either by the
carelessness of transcribers, or the malice of heretics) if it may bv
passed upon any part of that collection, certainly falls upon that
wherein the order of the Liturgy or communion office is con
tained : which is so clearly and minutely expressed, that it is
manifest many things are added from the later discipline of
the Church*

But as I have before observed, Renaudotius gives no one in
stance of an interpolation or corruption in this part of the Consti
tutions; and I trust I have clearly proved that there is none,
except the Kubrick concerning the fan and the bishop's shining
garment, which 1 am not concerned about; neither does it appear
that even that is not agreeable to the discipline of the Church
in the earliest ages. However, if I have not sufficiently cleared
this part of the Constitutions from the false charge cast upon it
by Renaudotius, the learned Mr. Bingham has effectually done
it*, though he has taken no notice of the objection : for he has not
only given us the Liturgy of the Constitutions as the best ex
emplar of the most ancient form of ministering the holy eucharist,
but he has minutely examined every prayer in it, and proved
every part of it to be agreeable to the practice of the Primitive
Church, by testimonies of the most ancient fathers : excepting
the form of oblation of the elements, which immediately follows
the recital of the institution, which he seems industriously to
have avoided the mention of. But that point has been so fully
proved by Mr. Johnson in his " Unbloody Sacrifice", that its
antiquity can no more be disputed, than any other part of that
Liturgy. Therefore whatever may be objected against any other
part of the book called the Apostolical Constitutions, the Liturgy
or Communion-office, which is here published under the name of
the Clementine Liturgy, stands free from any just objections,
every part of it being proved by Mr. Bingham and Mr. Johnson
to be perfectly agreeable to the practice of the Primitive Church
before the Council of Nice, as well as afterwards. Having

Quod quidem Judicium, si in ullam Collectionis partem cadere potest, in
istam certe qua Liturgiae Ordo continetur, tarn perspicufe et minutatim exposi-
tus, ut ex posteriore Disciplina — A D D I T A esse multa manifestum sit.
Cone, ad Cler. Temp. B. Mar. Cantab. Term. Mich. 1718. Auctore Sam. Drake.
p. 60, 61.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 337

therefore, I trust, sufficiently vindicated the Clementine Liturgy
or Communion-office, in the book called the Apostolical Consti
tutions, and proved it to be the best exemplar of that Traditional
Liturgy which was delivered by the Apostles, and used in all
Churches, without being committed to writing by any authority
of the Church, before the empire became Christian ; I shall
now proceed to speak concerning the other Liturgies here pub
lished.

§.32. The Liturgy of St. James is so called, not that it is
believed to have been written by that Apostle, but because it was
the ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, of which St.
James, the brother of our Lord, was the first bishop. And it
bears his name, as being compiled or put into writing agreeable
to that Traditional Liturgy which had been used in that Church
from the time of that Apostle. So that though he cannot be
called the writer, he may nevertheless be reputed the author of
it. The main and principal parts being, no doubt, the same in
sense, though not in words, with what were used by him when
he celebrated the holy eucharist. That it was the Liturgy of the
Church of Jerusalem, appears from a passage in the beginning of
the prayer for the Catholic Church, where it is said, We offer
also to thee, O Lord, for thy holy places, which thou hast
glorified with thy presence, and the appearance of thy most
Holy Spirit ; but chiefly for glorious j&tOtt, the mother of all
Churches.

Now this passage, which occurs in this Liturgy and no other,
is an evidence, that those who used it, had a more particular
concern for those places where our Saviour lived whilst he was
here on earth, than any other Churches had ; consequently were
the inhabitants of that country where our Saviour preached, and
wrought his miracles, and where the Holy Spirit descended upon
the Apostles ; that is, the mount Sion, the city of Jerusalem, the
land of Palestine, which being a province of Syria, that whole
country put in for a share in this honour, and used this Liturgy
also. For that the Liturgy of St. James was the Liturgy of the
Syrian Churches, and is so still for ought appears to the contrary,
Renaudotius proves from the testimony of Dionysius Barsalibi the
Monophysite archbishop of Amida, a famous city of Syria, who
flourished at the time that Jerusalem was in the possession of the
2 x

338 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Francs or Western Christians,* that is, in some part of the
eleventh century, who says, there is a tradition, that on the
third day after the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. James cele
brated according to the same Liturgy which we now use. And
when he was asked whence he had it, he answered, As the Lord
liveth, I have neither added nor detracted any thing from what
I heard from our Lord. Therefore this Liturgy is the chiefest
and the first of 'all. f

Now, though I have nothing to say in favour of the tradition
lie speaks of, as undoubtedly wanting a foundation, and having
neither antiquity, universality, nor consent, to support it, yet
Barsalibi's testimony is a sufficient evidence, that the Liturgy
which goes under the name of St. James, was the Liturgy at that
time used in the Syrian Churches of the Monophysite persuasion,
and the tradition is an evidence that they were not able to trace
the time when it was introduced there. And Renaudotius also
observes, that this Liturgy was there used by the Melchites or
Orthodox, as well as by the Monophysites, which is an evidence
that it was used in those Churches before the Council of Chalce-
don, that is, before the year 451. at which time the Monophysites
first made their separation from the Church. For after that time,
the Orthodox would not have taken a Liturgy from the Monophy
sites, nor the Monophysites from them : and therefore this must
be the common Liturgy there used by both parties before the
separation, and so continued to be afterwards. And the fathers
of the Council in Trullo, above two hundred years after, appeal
to the testimony of this Liturgy for the mixture of water writh the
sacramental wine, and speak of it as framed by St. James :J
which they would not have done, if it had not been a Liturgy
used and approved by the Orthodox as well as by the Heretics,
and consequently elder than the Monophysite heresy, or the time
when the Council of Chalcedon was held. As it is therefore
certainly elder than the fifth century, it evidently appears that it
was written as early as any other Liturgy was written for the use

* Renaudot. Liturg. Syriac. pp. 453, 454.

f Traditur, quod feria tertia post descensuin spiritus sancti Jacobus Aposto-
lus Liturgiam celebravit, eandem omnino, quam hie habemus. Cumque rogatus
esset, unde accepisset earn, ita respondit ; Vivit Dominus, nihil adjeci aut detraxi
ab eo quod audivi a Dornino nostro, Ea propter hsec Liturgia prjecipue eximia
est & omnium prima. Ibib. p. 74.

+ Concil. Trull. Can. 32.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 339

of any Church ; there being none put into writing by any public
authority till St. Basil's time, (as I have already shewed) that is,
till toward the latter end of the fourth century.

But the Churches of Syria and Palestine were not therefore
without a Liturgy till that time, they had their traditional Litur
gy, as all other Churches had : and that this traditional Liturgy
was the same in substance with the Liturgy of St. James, that
has been transmitted to us in writing, (excepting where this
Liturgy has been interpolated, of which interpolations I shall
quicldy take notice) is manifest from St. Cyril's Mystagogical
Catechisms here published, wherein he sets forth the manner of
celebrating the eucharist according to the form of this Liturgy,
as divers learned men have observed. Which traditional Liturgy
we have no reason to question was delivered by St. James, the
first bishop of Jerusalem, to his presbyters in that Church, and
from thence transmitted to the succeeding bishops and presbyters,
till about the latter end of the fourth, or beginning of the fifth
century, it was put into writing, as the Liturgies of other
Churches then also began to be: and therefore, though St. James
did not write it, nevertheless it may very reasonably bear his
name, the main of it being delivered by him. And as cardinal
Bona says, Let us freely grant that some things are added by
later hands, as is common in like cases ; are therefore all to be
rejected as spurious, even those tilings that are genuine ? Is
not the Pentateuch to be ascribed to Moses, because at the end
of the book of Deuteronomy an account of his death and burial
is added by another hand ? A sensible man would not argue
so.*

I shall therefore proceed to observe these additions, which by
making the Clementine Liturgy the test and standard, (as bishop
Hickes calls it, and I trust I have proved it to be) may be easily
discovered. And by comparing lliose with this, the invocations
• and additions in after times will appear ; f as that worthy
prelate has judiciously observed. For as he further says, Among

* Sed ultro concedamus nonnulla addita a reccntioribus, ut in similibus fieri
solet, an idcirco abjicienda omnia vclut spuria ilia etiam quse genuina sunt ?
An idco pentateuchum Moysi tribuendum non erit, quia in fine Dcutcronornii
ipsius mors & sepultura ab alio scriptore acldita est ? Non cst hominis sani sic
argumentari. Bona de Reb. Liturg. p. 94.

f Christian Priesthood, p. 111.

'340 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the additions, some are good, and some are Lad : and any ma n
who is conversant in the history of the Councils, may see how
and when both the sorts were introduced into the Liturgies of
the Church.* And we have additions of both kinds in this
Liturgy of St. James. Thus in the eucharistical prayer, a little
before the recital of the words of institution, the Virgin Mary is
called the mother of God: which term does not appear to have
been generally used by the Church till the time of Nestorius,
who denied our Saviour as God and man to be one person, but
divided the Godhead and manhood in one Christ into two persons
as well as two natures, denying that the Virgin Mary was mother
of a person who was God as well as man. For which heresy
he was condemned in the third general Council, held at Ephesus
in the year 431. Wherein it was decreed, that the Virgin Mary
should be called the mother of God ; not as supposing her to be
in any respect the mother of the Godhead, but implying that the
person born of her had the Divine nature united to the human
nature immediately as he was conceived in her womb, and was
so born of her God and man in one person ; the two natures
being so firmly united in that one person Jesus Christ, as never
after to be separated. And therefore the Church from that time
forward called the blessed Virgin the mother of God, to testify
that they did not divide the two natures in Jesus Christ into two
persons, as Nestorius did. So also in the prayer for the descent
of the Holy Ghost upon the elements to make them the body and
blood of Christ, that Holy Spirit is called a Consubstantial and
Co-eternal Person with the Father and the Son. Which term
Consubstantial was not used with respect to the Holy Ghost, till
Macedonius took upon him to deny the Divine nature of that
Holy Spirit, and not to place him in the rank of creatures : for
which heresy he was condemned in the second general Council
of Constantinople in the year 381. Wherein it being proved
from Scripture, and the constant tradition of the Church, that the
Holy Ghost was a Divine person of the same nature with the
Father and the Son, the term Consubstantial which denoted him
to be of the same nature, was made use of for that purpose ; by
which word, as applied to the Holy Ghost, the Orthodox Chris
tians thought it convenient to distinguish themselves from the

* Christian Priesthood, 3rd Edit. p. 143.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 341

Macedonian heretics, as by the same word, with respect to the
Son, they had before distinguished themselves from Arians in the
first general Council of Nice. And a little after the deacon has
said, Let us bow down our heads unto the Lord, the priest's
benediction runs in this form : The grace and mercy of the Holy,
Consubstantial, Uncreated, and Adorable Trinity, be with us
all. And a little after he prays, O Lord our God, the incompre
hensible Word of God, of one eternal and inseparable substance
with the Father and the Holy Ghost.

These are good additions made after the Council of Nice. For
though there be sufficient evidence in the Holy Scriptures, and
the fathers of the three first centuries, to satisfy us that there are
Three Persons and One God, which we call the Holy Trinity,
and also that the Son is of the same nature and essence with the
Father, yet the words Trinity, con substantial, or of one substance,
are not in the Scripture, neither are they frequently used by the
fathers of the three first centuries, nor do they appear to have
been used in any divine offices till after the Council of Nice : at
which time they were more generally introduced, to distinguish
the orthodox Christians from the Arians. But then as there are
these justifiable additions in this Liturgy, so there are others
which are plain corruptions and unjustifiable. Such is the
apostrophe to the Virgin Mary in the middle of the prayer for
Christ's Church : — " Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with
thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of
thy womb ; for of thee was born the Saviour of our souls.1'
Which is also so awkwardly interpolated without connection with
what goes before or follows after, that was it in this particular (as
it is not) agreeable to all the other Liturgies, one might reasonably
think it was not in the original Liturgy, but was added afterwards
by some unskilful hand. Also the next words : — " Most holy,
immaculate, superlatively blessed, and glorious lady," which
cannot be applied to any mere human person as she was, are a
plain interpolation. And what the singers say immediately after :
" It is meet that we should truly magnify thee, the ever blessed
and immaculate parent and mother of our God, who art of more
honour than the cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than
the seraphim ; thee we extol, who broughtest forth the Divine
Word without knowledge of man, and art truly the parent of God,
Thou, O Truth of Grace, art the joy of the whole creation, both

342 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

of angels and men, a temple of holiness, a spiritual paradise, and
the glory of virginity ; of whom the Deity was incarnate ; and
our God, whose being is from eternity, was made a child. For
thy womb was his throne, the seat of him whom the heavens
cannot contain : for thou, O full of grace, art the joy of the
universe ! glory be to thee." Now these are extravagant praises,
too great, most of them, to be given to a mortal, and are not so
full in any other Liturgy. However there is nothing of them in
the Clementine Liturgy, which I have shewed to be the test and
standard by which the rest are to be tried : neither is there any
thing like them in the Liturgies of Severus and Nestorius, and
consequently they were introduced after the fifth century, in which
age Severus lived. But then it is observable, that notwithstanding
there are these high praises and encomiums here given to the
blessed Virgin, yet there are no prayers made to her ; but in the
very next words she is plainly prayed for, as well as other departed
saints. For the priest immediately says, " Remember, O Lord,
the God of spirits and of all flesh, the faithful whom we have now
commemorated, make them to rest in the region of the living," &c.
As, therefore, the Virgin Mary was particularly commemorated
before, she is plainly prayed for here.

Another addition to the Liturgy is, that after the priest has
said, " Holy things are for holy persons," and the people have
made the proper answer to it, " then the priest breaks the bread,
and taking one half in his right hand, and the other in his left,
he dips the right-hand piece into the cup, and says : ' The union
of the most holy body and precious blood of our Lord God and
Saviour Jesus Christ.' Then he signs the left-hand piece, and
after that the other half, and immediately begins to break and
distribute part into each cup, saying, ' The union is made, sancti
fied and completed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
now and ever.' And when he signs the bread he says, ' Behold
the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, that takes away the
sins, and was sacrificed for the life and salvation of the world.'
And when he distributes a piece into each cup he says, * This is
a part of Christ's most holy body, full of the grace and truth of
the Father and the Holy Ghost, to whom be honour and power
for ever and ever.' Then he begins to break it into pieces."
This custom of dipping a piece of bread into the cup is an
ancient addition, arid seems to have been elder in the Eastern

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 343

Church than the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, that is,
than the fifth century, because we find it both in the Nestorian
and Monophysite Liturgies. Now Nestorius was condemned,
and he and his adherents excluded the communion of the Catho
lic Church in the year 431. Therefore after that time we have
reason to believe they would not receive any new customs from
the Catholic Church, nor the Catholic Church from them. And
the same may be said of the Monophysites, who were excluded
the communion of the Church about twenty years after the Coun
cil of Chalcedon, and who were great enemies both to the
Nestorians and the Catholics, and consequently would not receive
any additions made to the Liturgical Offices by either of them.
But then as we do not find any thing of this practice before the
fifth century, and can see nothing of it in the Clementine
Liturgy, nor find it mentioned by St. Cyril of Jerusalem in any
of his catechetical lectures concerning the eucharist, or in any
father in the three or four first centuries, we are assured, that though
it be ancient, it is not of primitive antiquity, or an apostolical
practice. Neither was it a universal practice till many ages
after the Council of Chalcedon. For though it be now in the
Roman Canon, by which means it became a practice of the
whole Western Church before the Reformation, yet we find no
footsteps of this practice in the ancient Gothic or Gallican
Offices ; neither was it originally in the Roman Canon itself, as
set forth by pope Gregory in his Sacramentary, as is acknow
ledged by the Romanists themselves. For in the Canon Missae,
published by the Divines of Cologne in their Antididagma, or
book which they wrote in answer to the Book of Reformation
made by Bucer and Melancthon in that electorate, by the autho
rity of Herman then archbishop, at the end of the Lord's Prayer,
in that edition of the Mass, are these words, Here anciently the
Canon ended, and they called that which follows an interpola
tion or excrescence.* Now the order to dip a piece of the conse
crated host into the cup, follows the words here cited, and there
fore by their own confession was no part of the ancient Canon
of the Roman Church. So that it wants antiquity, as being not
elder even in the East than the latter end of the fourth or the

* Hie quondam finiebatur Canon, & quod sequitur embolismum seu excre-
scentiam appellarunt. Antididag. Paris, 1545. Fol. 123.

344 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

beginning of the fifth century, nor in any of the Western Churches
till many ages after.

Together with this practice of dipping a piece of consecrated
bread into the cup, was also introduced another in the Eastern
Churches of putting the bread and wine both into a spoon, and
so administering to the laity. For this also, being the practice
both of the Nestorians and J acobites, appears to have been elder
than the middle of the fifth century, and yet it is certainly later
than the middle of the fourth century. For St. Cyril of Jerusalem,
who delivered his catechetical lectures about the year 350, that
is, in the middle of the fourth century, towards the conclusion of
his fifth Mystagogical Catechism, which is here published toge
ther with the Liturgies, directs those he instructs, that every one
of them, after he has communicated of the body of Christ,
should go and partake of the cup of his Hood. Which is a
certain evidence, that in his time the bread and wine were given
distinct, and the people received the wine not together with the
bread in a spoon, but having first received the bread in the palm
of the right hand, and eaten it as he before directs, they then
received the cup also, according to the direction here cited. But
though this custom began thus early, so that the Nestorians and
Monophy sites, as well as the Catholics, came into it, }et it is
certain it was but then beginning, and was so far from being
authorised, that it was directly condemned by the Church above
two hundred years after the Council of Chalcedon.* For in the
Council of Trullo in the year 680, those are condemned who do
not receive the eucharist in their hands, and those who do not
administer it to them to be taken in their hands. The Canon,
according to Mr. Johnson's Translation and Abridgment runs
thus : That men take the eucharist into their own hands, hold
ing them in the form of a cross ; that they who bring little
vessels of gold or other metal, and do not receive the eucharist
into their own hands, be suspended from communion ; as also
he that gives them the eucharist in this manner.

This Canon teaches, as Balsamon the learned Greek Canonist
observes from it, that divers persons, out of a pretended reverence
to the sacred elements, would not touch them with their hands, as
supposing that their hands were not fit to touch that which was
so pure and clean as the consecrated elements. Upon this

* Can. 101.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 345

account they brought with them little vessels or spoons made of
gold and silver, in which they received the consecrated elements,
and then put them into their mouths. And in this practice the
rich also seemed to insult the poor, who were unahle to furnish
themselves with such costly utensils. All which was very justly
disliked by the bishops and superior governors of the Church.
For they judged it an high reflection on the dignity of the human
body, which the Son of God had honoured with an union of it to
his own Divine nature, as if any part of it was less worthy than a
vessel of gold, or silver, or other metal. Therefore they strictly
forbad this practice ; and ordered that every one should receive the
communion in his hands put into the form of a cross ; that is,
according to the direction of St. Cyril in the Catechism here
published, who orders his communicant to lay his right hand upon
his left, (whereby the form of the cross will be made by the two
hands so joined) and so to receive the bread in the palm or hollow
of the right hand. And in so receiving the bread as is here
ordered, it was necessary that they should receive the elements
distinct : for the wine or the bread dipped in it, could not be so
received without danger of spilling the wine, which the Church
was always careful to avoid. From all which we may reasonably
conclude, that this practice of giving the eucharist to the laity in
a spoon, arose gradually from hence. In the latter end of the
fourth, or the beginning of the fifth century, some people began
the practice of bringing spoons with them wherein to receive the
eucharist, under pretence of deeming their hands unworthy to
touch it. This having a seeming shew of humility in it, was for
a long time connived at, till at last it became an universal practice
in the Eastern Churches. The Council in Trullo justly looked
upon this as a corrupt practice, and therefore condemned it. But
though that was a general Council, (at least of the Eastern Church)
and its Canons are even to this day of great authority amongst the
Greeks, yet the custom had so far prevailed, as that it could not
be suppressed by it. Therefore the priests finding they could not
make the people lay aside their spoons which they brought with
them, any other way than by providing a spoon for them, they
took that course, and did themselves put the eucharist into the
mouth of every communicant with a consecrated spoon, kept for
that purpose amongst their other sacred vessels. By which
means, though they did not exactly conform to the Canon, which
2 Y

346 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

ordered the eucharist to be taken by the people in their hands, yet
they brought the people to comply with that part of it which forbad
them to bring any vessels with them ; and prevented the rich from
insulting the poor on this occasion, by using spoons more rich and
costly than the others could do. And when they thus had intro
duced the practice of giving the eucharist with a spoon, they
seem to have brought in the custom of giving both elements
together, only that they might make a quicker dispatch in the
distribution of them. But however or whensoever this practice
of giving the bread and wine together in a spoon began in the
Eastern Churches, it is certain it is not of Primitive antiquity,
how universal soever it be amongst them at this time, but stands
condemned by a general Council of their own Church, as late as
the latter end of the seventh century. This practice did also
begin to creep into the Western Church, and even here in
England, but it was of no long continuance, so that it could
never get to be an universal practice : as the curious reader may
see, by consulting what the learned Mr. Bingham says on this
occasion. * There is also another additional rite not of Primitive
antiquity, which, though not mentioned in that part of St. James's
Liturgy, which is here published, yet being mentioned in some
other parts of that Liturgy, and being also in some other Liturgies
as published before this discourse, I think it may not be improper to
take notice of it here, and that is the use of incense. A ceremony
which began to be used in the Eastern Church about the same
time with the two last mentioned, but which, like them, did not pre
vail in the West till some ages after. It is certain, there is no men
tion of it in the three first centuries, if there be in the fourth. In
deed, in the third of those Canons which are called Apostolical,
which Canons make the last chapter of the book called the Aposto
lical Constitutions, which the learned bishop Beveridge has proved
were Canons made in the three first centuries, there is particular
mention of the offering incense at the time of the oblation. But
to this it may be answered, that though it be generally agreed by
the learned, that the book called the Apostolical Constitutions,
was compiled by some person or persons before the Council of
Nice, and that therein is transmitted to us the best and fullest
account of the customs and practices of the Church in those ages

* Antiquity of the Christian Church, book xv. cap. v. § 2.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 347

which is now extant in any one book of that antiquity, yet it is
allowed by all, even by Mr. Wliiston himself, (who has advanced
that book to an equal authority with the Holy Scriptures) that
there are many interpolations and additions which have been
made and annexed to it in after-ages. So that where it contains
any thing that is not to be corroborated by some contemporary
evidence, it can be of no authority. Though where there is
contemporary evidence, as I have shewn there is for every part of
the communion office, its authority is valuable.

Now this part of the third Apostolical Canon which relates to
incense, as used at the time of the oblation3 is wholly destitute of
all contemporary evidence. And when this was urged by Daille
against the authority of this Canon, bishop Beveridge had no
other answer to make to it with regard to the three first centuries,
but that it was mentioned by Hippolytus bishop of Porta, who
flourished in the third century. But then the book he cites on
this occasion, though published under the name of this Hippolytus,
is certainly none of his, neither is it known by whom or when it
was written, only the learned are agreed that it cannot be the
work of that holy martyr, nor of any other of that antiquity. So
that he might as well as have said nothing at all to it. Besides,
whoever reads the Canon considerately, may easily judge, that
the clause which relates to incense, did not originally belong to
it, but was plainly added afterwards. I will, therefore, set down
the Canon. //' any bishop, or presbyter, otherwise than out-
Lord has ordained concerning the sacrifice, offer other things
at the altar of God, as honey, milk, or strong liquors, instead of
ivine, or birds, or any animals, or pulse, otherwise than is
ordained, let him be deposed ; excepting new ears of corn or
grapes at the proper season. Now here the Canon seems plainly
to have ended, for what follows is an apparent addition made
afterwards. But let not any thing else be offered at the altar,
except oil for the lights, and incense at the time of the oblation.
For had this clause been in the original Canon, it would in all
probability have run thus : — Excepting new ears of corn or
grapes at the proper season, and oil for the lights, and incense
at the time of the oblation. But the making a complete stop at
the words proper season, shews, that when the exception was
made of new ears of corn and grapes, nothing else was then
thought of as needing to be oxccpted. Consequently the other

348 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

exception for oil and incense was not put in till some time after.
But admitting not only the former part of the Canon, but this
clause also, to be of the second or third century, what does it
prove ? Not that incense was any part of our Lord's institution,
but the direct contrary. The Canon is plainly made to reform
an abuse or corruption that was crept into the form of oblation.
It was the practice of the Primitive Church from the Apostles'
days downwards, that every one that came to the holy communion,
should bring an offering, something that might be proper for the
maintenance of the bishop and clergy, and for the service of the
Church and relief of the poor. Therefore St. Paul says : — Do ye
not know that they who minister about holy things, live of the
sacrifice ? and they who wait at the altar, are partakers with
the altar ? Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who
preach the gospel, should live of the gospel.* And again, Let
him that is taught in the word, minister unto him that teacheth
in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked : for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. f And the first
converts to Christianity were so sensible of this duty, that as
many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and
brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them
down at the Apostles* feet : and distribution was made unto
every man according as lie had need. J But this was a practice
which, though expedient at that time, yet could not hold long in
the nature of things ; for if every Christian was obliged to sell all,
then when all became Christians, (and it was the duty and
endeavour of the Apostles, and was and is so of their successors,
to make all men Christians, as far as they are able) there could
be no buyers, and so this in its own nature must become imprac
ticable. But the reason of the thing still continues, that a due
provision should be made for the ministers of the gospel, for the
service of the Church, and the relief of the poor. Therefore,
though the succeeding converts did not sell all and lay it at the
Apostles' feet, yet collections were made for the saints, and for
the service of the Church. \\ And it became customary for every
one to lay by him in store as God had prospered him, and to
bring something with him for this purpose when he came to the
holy communion.

* 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. f Gal. vi. 6, 7. + Acts iv. 34, 3o.

11 1 Cor. xvi. 1.

THE PKECED1NG LITURGIES. 349

Now upon this occasion they brought not their offerings always
in money, as is now the custom, but in other things; they
brought drink and meat ready dressed for the love-feast, which
was eaten in the Church in common by all, and for the abuse of
which St. Paul reproves the Corinthians.* And out of the bread
and wine which was brought by some of the people at this time,
the bread and wine for the celebration of the holy eucharist were
always taken. Some therefore brought bread and wine for this
service, others brought oil for the lamps. For in those times of
persecution, the Christians were obliged to assemble early in the
morning before daylight, that they might not be discovered by the
heathen, and then such lights were necessary. Others brought
frankincense, which, as we learn from Tertullian,f was much
used by the Christians, not for fumigation, but for the embalm
ing of the dead. Others brought honey, milk, and some strong
liquors of their own making ; others fowls ; others sheep, or other
animals proper for food ; and others some sort of grain, as proper
provision for the bishop and clergy. Now it appears from this
Canon, that some bishops and presbyters did not only take bread
and wine for the eucharist out of these oblations of the people,
but would take something of every kind of thing that the people
brought, and make a solemn oblation of it to God at the altar .
This was a plain abuse and corruption, and therefore justly con
demned by this Canon, which therefore forbids the bishop or
presbyter to offer any thing but what our Lord ordained
concerning the sacrifice, excepting ears of corn and bunches of
grapes in their season, and oil for the lamps and incense.
Now the very excepting these things is a plain testimony, that
those who made this Canon, did certainly know and believe that
none of these things were any part of Christ's institution ; and
that they did not look upon them to be in any respect necessary,
but only as what might be permitted or allowed to those that had
already introduced a custom of offering more than Christ had
enjoined to be offered. For this reason, that they might not
wholly disgust the people, who were desirous to see something of
what they brought offered at the altar, they permitted such things
to be there offered as might be consumed in the Church. Thus
they permitted ears of new corn and bunches of grapes, because

* I Cor. xi. 20—22. f Apol. cap, 42.

350 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the corn being afterwards ground, might be made into bread, and
the grapes being pressed into wine, might be consumed at the
altar ; and oil for the holy lamp was necessarily to be consumed
there, and frankincense for embalming the dead was looked upon
as a pious use : it might therefore as well be permitted to be
offered as any of the rest. And whereas frankincense gave a fine
odour, (or at least what was anciently esteemed so when it was
burned,) therefore in offering that at the altar, they always burnt
a part of it. These seem to be the reasons for the exceptions in
this Canon. But be that as it will, it is evident there is no
injunction ordering the oblation of any of these things, but only a
bare allowance or permission ; so that the bishop or priest who
does offer them, shall riot undergo any censure for it: neither was
he liable to censure if he did not offer them. But he was not so
much as permitted to bring any other of the people's oblations to
the altar. What was brought purely for the support of the bishop
and clergy, was not suffered to come to the holy table, as appears
from the very next Canon, where it is said, Let all other fruits
be sent to the house of the bishop, as first fruits to him, and to
the presbyters, but not to the altar. Now it is plain that the
bishop and presbyters are to divide them to the deacons, and
the rest of the clergy. It is therefore evident, by considering
and comparing these two Canons together, that the third Apos
tolical Canon, which is the ancientest testimony that we have for
the offering incense at the Christian altar, is so far from testifying
it to have been an Apostolical practice, or an approved practice
of the Primitive Church in the three first centuries, thai it proves
the direct contrary. For it shews, that it being the practice of
the people, derived from the Apostles' days, to bring with them
something for the service of the Church, and for the maintenance
of the bishop and clergy, some bishops and presbyters had gone
so far as to offer at the altar whatever was so brought : this was
justly esteemed an abuse and corruption; and they were called
back to the Primitive institution. Only they were permitted, if
they pleased, but not that the Church saw it necessary or expe
dient, to offer such things at the altar as were to be consumed at
the altar, or in a pious use, such as the embalming of the dead ;
but what was appointed for the maintenance of the clergy, was
not upon any pretence to . come to the altar. However this
practice of offering the incense being thus permitted, did by

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 351

degrees, but not till several ages after, come to be an universal
practice, first in the East, and afterwards in the West. He that
is curious to know more of this matter, may consult the learned
Mr. Dodwell's Discourse concerning the US£ Of tttttttgl in
Divine offices : Wherein it is proved, that that practice, taken
up in the middle ages, loth by the Eastern and Western
Churches, is, notwithstanding, an innovation from the doctrine
of the first and purest Churches, and the traditions derived
from the HpOStiCS* And this Canon, which admitting it to be
as ancient as the third century, and bishop Beveridge pretends
no elder authority for it, is so far from proving it an Apostolical
tradition, that it proves it directly otherwise. For had it been
Apostolical, it would not have been Tfapa rr\v r« Kvpiu $idra%iv rt\v
itrl rrj $v<na, otherwise than our Lord ordained concerning the
sacrifice. For we cannot suppose that the Apostles would offer
otherwise or in another manner than the Lord had ordained.
And the very excepting these things, of which incense is one, is
a testimony that this was otherwise and in another manner than
the Lord had ordained. Besides, though it does appear that
incense was used in the middle and latter ages in all Churches,
and at the altar also, yet it never obtained to be used universally
in the Canon Missae, that is, in the proper immediate communion
service, or in that part of the Liturgy which falls under our
present consideration ; it was not used as any ways tending to
make the oblation of the sacramental body and blood of Christ.
Neither is it in the Anaphora or Canon Missae of St. James's
Liturgy, which is now under consideration, and therefore I shall
say no more of it here.

§ 33. The next Liturgy here published is called the Liturgy
of St. Mark. Not that it was written by that Evangelist, but as
it was the ancient Liturgy of the Church of Alexandria, and used
throughout that patriarchate in the Churches of Egypt, Lybia,
and Pentapolis : and it was called by the name of St. Mark, as
it was the Liturgy of that Church of which he was the first
founder and bishop. That it was written before the Council of
Chalcedon, we learn from its being used as well by the Orthodox
patriarchs of Alexandria, as by the Coptites or followers of Dios-
corus, the patriarch of that Church, who was condemned by that
Council, and who from that time to this have continued to hold

35*2 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

distinct communions, and to have different patriarchs and bishops
of the same districts ; and who after that time would not receive
any new rites the one from the other, both of them pretending to
stick to the ancient rites of that Church, used there before their
separation. And therefore, if either of them had added any thing
afterwards to their common Liturgy, the other would not have
followed them therein, but that addition would have become a
farther article of division betwixt them. And that this Liturgy
was compiled for the use of the Churches of Egypt particularly,
is manifest from that passage in the general intercession, Raise
the water of the river to their just height : there being no
country in which the Greek language was ever used that is
annually overflowed by a river, as Egypt is by the Nile. And
they have reason to pray that those waters may flow to their just
measure, because if they exceed or fall short, they cause a dearth
in that country. Also the putting into the same general inter
cession the name of St. Mark, as their father or first founder, is
another demonstrable evidence, that this Liturgy was the Liturgy
of the Church of Alexandria, no other Greek Church claiming
that Evangelist as their first bishop. For though the name of
St. Mark being put in that place be an evidence, that this
Liturgy was not written by him in the form now published, for
he is there named among the faithful departed, yet it is neverthe
less a most full evidence, that it was the Liturgy of that Church
which was founded by him, and who received the form of
administering the holy communion from him. And the addition
of this name in particular to that of the patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops and saints in general, is
such an addition as may be very well justified, and was very
proper and natural to be made by his immediate successors,
before this Liturgy or any other was committed to writing.
Neither is it an addition that in any wise affects the substance
of the Liturgy, or tends to introduce any doctrine or practice that
is different from the received doctrine or practice of pure Primi
tive antiquity. So also the term Orthodox king could not be
used till after the emperor became Christian, that is, till the
reign of Constantine the Great, nay more probably not till the
reign of Gratian or Theodosius, since it is most likely that in
Constantine's days they might say, our Christian king or
emperor, and that Orthodox king was not used till after they

THE PRECEDING LITUHGIES. 353

had been subject for a time to some heretical princes, such as
Constantius and Valens.

But such additions or alterations as these affect not the sub
stance of any Liturgy ; be they in or be they out, the Liturgy is
still the same in substance, though not exactly in words. And
the addition of the name of St. Mark to the petition for patriarchs,
prophets, &c. deceased, or of Orthodox to the petition for the
king or emperor in general, is no more a proof that this Liturgy
was not the Liturgy used by St. Mark himself, than it would be
a proof that the Liturgy now used in the cathedral and parish
churches throughout England, is not the same which was con
firmed by the Act of Uniformity under king Charles the Second,
because we find in it the names of later princes. Therefore such
additions as these are not to be reckoned as interpolations, but
only as proper additions or alterations agreeable to the times and
seasons. The same may be said of the word Pope, used also in
this Liturgy, which though now in these Western parts of the
Church it be appropriated to the bishop of Rome, yet was an
ciently used for any bishop, especially the bishops of patriarchal
Sees, such as was that of Alexandria ; and therefore I need not
take notice of such particular words, though perhaps more modern
than the apostolical age, wherein St. Mark flourished.

However, there is one thing particular to this Liturgy, and in
which few of the other Liturgies are agreeable to it, and that is,
that the intercession for all estates and conditions of men is here
put before the consecration. But the order in which this prayer
is placed, is no essential point ; and therefore though the order
in which it is put in the other Liturgies seem more proper, I
shall not trouble myself to enquire how it comes to be otherwise
here. This Liturgy has also some of the interpolations which I
have before examined in the Liturgy of St. James, but not all.
The Son and Holy Ghost are called Consubstantial, which was
a good and proper addition after the rise of the Arian Heresy, as
I have observed. The corrupt additions are, Hail full of grace,
which is brought in as awkwardly here as it is in the Liturgy of
St. James : the casting on of incense, which is brought within
the Anaphora or Canon Missae of this Liturgy, in which it is
particular. But having already treated of these and other inter
polations in what I have said on St. James's Liturgy, I need not
say any more of the matter here. But there are two or three
2 z

351 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

things more in this Liturgy which may need explaining to any
English reader, and that is, the deacons reading the Diptychs,
and calling to those that sit to stand up, and to turn to the East,
and calling to the deacons to come down or return. The Dip
tychs were a book or roll wherein the names of the bishops, saints,
and martyrs of the Church were registered, wherein also were
inserted the names of other bishops and eminent persons, both
living and dead, as well as those of the Church to which the
Diptychs belonged, especially the bishops of the great Patriarchal
See. And these names, or as many of them as was judged
expedient, (for it would have been endless to read all) were read
or recited by the deacon in some part of the communion service,
as a testimony that the Church wherein those Diptychs, or that
register was kept, were in communion with all those persons
whose names were so preserved, and with all the Churches with
whom those persons held communion. And therefore to blot the
name of any person out of the Diptychs, was looked upon as a
renunciation of his communion. Thus when the name of St.
John Chrysostom was put out of the Diptychs of the Church of
Constantinople and other Eastern Churches, and that of Arsacius,
who was the intruder into his See, was put in the room of it, this
was a testimony, that those Churches who had done this, had
renounced the communion of Chrysostom, as bishop of Constan
tinople: and when afterwards they blotted out the name of
Arsacius, and restored that of John, though after both their
deaths, this was an evidence, that they returned again to the
communion of John Chrysostom, and renounced that of Arsacius,
and that they looked upon John as the rightful bishop of Con
stantinople to the time of his death, notwithstanding his pretended
deposition and violent expulsion ; and that they esteemed Arsacius
to be an intruder, and no rightful bishop. The use of the Dip
tychs wras therefore to preserve the names of eminent bishops,
saints, and martyrs, that they might be commemorated at the
altar, and a testimony given of the Churches' communion with
them whether alive or dead. As to the deacons calling to those
that sat down to stand up, it is to be noted, that it was the
custom of the Primitive Church that all persons should stand at
the public prayers, and the service being very long, (for before
they began wrhat I have here published, there were many preli
minary prayers, psalms, &c.) those that were weak and infirm

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 355

were forced to sit down to repose themselves a little, and therefore
at certain times the deacon called upon these to stand up as well
as others; thereby signifying to them, that though necessity
might force them to rest themselves for a while, yet their devotion
should also oblige them to stand up as much as they were able.
So as to the deacons calling to them to turn to the East, it is well
known, that it was the custom of Christians anciently as well as
now to turn their faces to the East, which because in process of
time some persons were not careful to observe, and would care
lessly, not by way of opposition, turn another way, therefore the
deacon reminded them of it. And as there were several deacons
in the great Churches, some of them were sent about the Church
to observe and see if the people in the several parts of it were
orderly, and behaved themselves as they ought to do ; and the
deacon that staid by the bishop or officiating priest, called to
them to descend or return to the altar at the proper time, that
they might be ready there to receive the communion themselves,
and to assist in the distribution of it to the people. These were
pure ritual matters wherein every Church acted as they saw
expedient.

§ 34. St. Chrysostom's Liturgy, is the Liturgy still used in the
Church of Constantinople, and throughout that patriarchate, and
probably was written by the holy father whose name it bears,
excepting that, like other Liturgies, it has since received some
additions or interpolations. For though we are assured that the
Liturgies which bear the names, St. James, St. Mark, and St.
Clement, were not written (however they might be delivered or
taught) by that Apostle, and those Apostolical men whose names
they bear ; there being so much reason to believe, as I have
already shewed, * that there were not any written Liturgies till
the time of St. Basil, forty or fifty years after the Council of
Nice, by any person that had authority to establish such a Liturgy,
or oblige any Church to the use of it ; and that the Clementine
Liturgy, though written before the Council of Nice, was put into
writing by a private person, who had no such authority, and is
therefore no more than an evidence of what the traditional Liturgy
used in all Churches, before Liturgies in writing were brought in;

* Necessary Use of Tradition, p. 123., &c.

356 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

did contain ; yet St. Chrysostom, who lived after St. Basil's days,
or near the same time with him, might, for any thing that appears
to the contrary, write a Liturgy for the use of his own Church,
the practice of putting the Liturgy, as used in the several
Churches of the world, into writing, beginning about his time.
But whether St. Chrysostom was the author or rather the compiler
of it or not, this is certain, that it is an ancient Liturgy, and is
received in the Greek Church, as compiled by him : though, as
that Church has degenerated from what it was in St. Chrysostom's
days, so this Liturgy has also been corrupted in later ages : and
by comparing it with the Clementine Liturgy, (which 1 trust I
have proved to be the test and standard by which all others are
to be tried) those corruptions will easily appear. Neither are all
the additions, which we meet in this Liturgy, to be called
corruptions ; there are, as in other Liturgies, some good, some
bad, and some indifferent. The words, consubstantial, and
undivided Trinity, I cannot reckon an interpolation in this
Liturgy, though I put them in as such in the Liturgy of St.
James, because they were words used by the Church in St.
Chrysostom's days, though not in the days of that Apostle. But
the phrase, mother of God, was not used in the Liturgy till after
the Council of Ephesus, that is, a considerable time after the
death of St. Chrysostom. However, though this be an interpolation
or an addition that we know was made since this Liturgy was
written, if it was compiled by St. Chrysostom, yet it is not a
corruption, but a proper addition, made after the appearance of
the Nestorian heresy, which the orthodox thought fit to use, to
distinguish themselves from those heretics. As to the other
additions, that of the people praising the Virgin Mary, by an
address directed to her, is certainly sinful. That of the priests
putting the bread into the cup, of his pouring in hot water, and
of the deacon's burning frankincense, and the giving the bread
and wine together in a spoon to the people, though the priest
and deacons receive them distinct, are what I shall not take upon
me to defend, if any one shall condemn them as corruptions.
Then as to the deacotfs taking the asterisc and air, and fanning
the holy things, his putting his hand into the orarium, and
pointing to the holy elements, his laying down his fan and
taking it up again, his turning to the door and holding his
orarium in three fingers, and girding himself with the orarium,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 357

and the priesfs praying sometimes with a loud voice and some
times with a low voice, and some other things which the reader
may meet in the Rubrics of this Liturgy, though innocent in
themselves, yet as here used, are too theatrical and unbecoming
the gravity of this holy mystery. And therefore I shall not
scruple to call them corruptions. But then as to the other uses
of the asterisc, and air, and orarium, though I do not know that
they were so used in St. Chrysostom's days, they are innocent
enough. The air, as we learn from Goar, * was a large linen
cloth with which the holy elements were covered, and they called
it by that name, because it covered the bread and wine as the air
covers the earth. The asterisc was made of two large thin pieces
of silver, or other metal, in the form of an arch, and crossing each
other in the middle, which was set over the paten and the cup, to
support the linen cloth or air, that it might not touch the
elements. The orarium was a long narrow towel, which the
deacon hung on his left shoulder ; f and as the name of it was
originally Latin, derived ab ore, the primary use of it was to wipe
the mouth or the fingers as there was occasion, which might be
very proper and expedient. Supposing then that the asterisc^
air, and orarium, were introduced after St. Chrysostom's time,
they had a very proper and innocent use, which I cannot call
corruptions.

§ 35. St. Basil, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, who
was a little older than St. Chrysostom, is reasonably supposed to
have been the first that compiled a communion office in writing
for the use of his own Church. And therefore though he was
soon followed in this by other bishops, yet his Liturgy was
received by divers other Churches, and used there as well as
their own, not constantly, but at some particular times, or on
certain days. Thus in the Church of Constantinople, the Liturgy
of St. Basil was and is still used upon all the Sundays in Lent
except Palm-sunday, upon Maundy-thursday, and Easter eve,
upon the vigils of Christmas and the Epiphany. At other times the
Liturgy of St. Chrysostom is used ; and the Rubrics or rules to
be observed in the celebration are the same with those in the
Liturgy of St. Chrysostom. Therefore I have very little to

* In Miss. Chrysost. Not. p, 121, f Ibid. p. 110.

358 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

observe here concerning interpolations or additions, but what has
been already taken notice of in what I have said concerning the
Liturgy of St. Chrysostom. However, there is one particular in
this Liturgy which I find to be charged as a corruption, which
indeed I do not think so ; and that is, that after the commemora
tion of the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, and the Apostles,
there follows this petition : — Through whose supplications look
upon us, O God. But in the Alexandrian Liturgy of St. Basil,
which is here also published, this petition is something larger
and more particular, and I shall give it in the words of a learned
gentleman, who has thought fit to single it out as a most manifest
corruption, saying, It teaches us to pray ; we beg that we may
obtain a place at thy right hand in that terrible and just day, by
the intercession and supplications of our most glorious lady, the
mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and of all thy saints. If
our author approves of this as no corruption, let him speak out
and say so. But if he does not, as I verily believe he does not,
let him not offer a corrupt Liturgy, &c.* Now whatever may
be that author's opinion of whom he here speaks, I cannot but
declare it to be my opinion, that there is no corruption in this
place. For though I am as much against praying to saints
departed as this learned gentleman or any one else can be,
because praying to them is giving them that religious worship
which ought to be paid to none but God himself, and is therefore
utterly unlawful. And if we practice this corruption, we must
suppose, with the writers of the Church of Rome, that they see
and know all things in speculo tr'mitatis, in the beatific vision,
which it is certain they are not yet admitted to, nor shall be till
the resurrection. Besides, if they were admitted to that utmost
degree of happiness, there is no ground to believe that they must
therefore know all things that pass in all parts of the world, or
that they can hear the prayers of all, or of any that call upon
them. But because for these reasons it is unlawful to pray to the
saints, is it therefore unlawful to pray to God to hear their prayers
for us ? or can they not pray for us, except we may be allowed to
pray to them ? for my part I make no doubt of their praying for
us. They are still members of the same body or society that we
are of, that body of which Jesus Christ is the head ; for as we

* No just grounds for introducing the new communion office, p. 74.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 359

are Christians, the Apostle has taught us, that we are come unto
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the
general assembly and Church of the first born which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant.* As therefore the spirits of just men made perfect
are still members of the same body with those that are not yet so
perfected, wre are assured by the Scriptures that they must have
a care and concern for their fellow members. For St. Paul
observes, that the members should have the same care one for
another : and whether one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the members
rejoice with it.^ Therefore as the saints departed do (as we
have no reason to question) every thing they should do, they
must still continue their care and concern for their fellow mem
bers : and if they have a care and concern for us, they will pray
for us. It is true they cannot pray for this or that particular man,
because as their knowledge is finite they cannot tell particularly
what is done upon earth after they are departed hence, and are
no more seen. But as they have themselves been members of
the Church militant on earth, they know the state of it in general,
they know the enemies we must daily fight with, they know the
temptations that assault us, they know the power of the adversary,
arid our weakness, and therefore as their membership or communion
with us is not cut off by death, any more than by other absence,
which may cut off the particular knowledge of one person con
cerning the state and condition of another : therefore as we
believe the communion of saints, we have no reason to doubt,
but they perform all the duties of that communion, and pray for
their fellow members. For if they do not pray for us, I do not
see what care they can be said to have for us ; because, by reason
of the distance there is between us, they can express their care
no other way. Does not the Church of England exhort us, to
pray for the whole congregation of Christian people dispersed
throughout the whole world; J yet we, generally speaking,
know no more of a great part of that congregation, than the
saints in heaven know of the Church on earth. We know not

* Heb. xii. 22—24. f 1 Cor. xii. 25, 26. + Can, 55.

360 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the state and condition of particular men, no nor even the state
and condition of many particular Churches, further than that we
know that all men in this world are subject to casualties and to
temptations, and that particular Churches are some in a flourish
ing condition, some in a state of persecution ; some overrun with
corruptions both in doctrine and discipline, and some, we hope,
pure and undefiled. And thus much the saints departed know of
the state of the Church on earth, and therefore know what to
pray for it in general as well as we.

Wherefore if they still hold the communion of saints, and it is
an Article of our Creed that they do so, we cannot doubt of their
praying for us. And if they do pray for us, is it unlawful for us
to pray that God would hear their prayers for us ? Is it a cor
ruption in a Liturgy to have such a petition in it ? I can by no
means think so. God has commanded us to pray one for another,
and may not I desire him that the prayers which another makes
for me may be heard ? The Apostle speaking of our praying one
for another, adds, that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much.* Now I cannot doubt but the saints
departed are righteous men, and therefore cannot doubt but their
effectual fervent prayer for their brethren on earth availeth much.
Consequently that it is lawful for any private Christian, or any
congregation of Christians, to pray that their prayers may be
available to them in particular. But the learned gentleman
before mentioned seems to think this derogatory to the honour of
Christ; for speaking of those who lived in St. Cyril's time, and
in his communion, that is, the Church of the fourth century, (till
which time and after, as I have shewed, f the governors of the
Church of England have declared doctrine and religion were
most pure) he says, They fled to the intercession of the patri
archs, prophets, martyrs, that God ivould receive their requests
by virtue of the prayers and entreaties of these; which, adds he,
is such an affront to our Saviour's mediatorial office, that I
cannot imagine our learned author will ever take upon him to
plead for it. % But does this learned gentleman really think that
the intercession of one person for another is an affront to our
Saviour's mediatorial office ? If so, how shall we pray one for
another ? Does he answer those who desire his prayers for them,

* Jam. v. 16. f Necessary Use of Tradition, &c., p. 4.

+ No Sufficient Reason, Part II., p. 63.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 361

and say that he cannot intercede for them, because this would be
to affront Christ in his mediatorial office ? Or should he say to
them, that there is no virtue in his prayers, or in the prayers of
any other good man, nor can be believed to be without derogating
from the honour of Christ : would they not reply again, and say,
this is directly contrary to Scripture, which expressly says, that
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much ?:
And is there no virtue in a prayer that availeth much ? And if
there be virtue in the prayers of a righteous man, as the Scripture
plainly teaches there is, it cannot be derogatory to the honour of
Christ to believe what the Scripture so plainly teaches ; or to
pray that we may receive benefit from that virtue. Or is it more
derogatory to the honour of Christ to believe that the prayers of
the saints departed, which they make for their brethren on earth,
have virtue in them, or are as available to the benefit of those
they pray for, as the prayers of this gentleman, or of any saint on
earth ? Or does this learned gentleman refuse to pray for others ?
For if he does pray for any but himself, he makes himself an
intercessor or mediator; and if his argument have any weight in
it, puts such an affront upon our Saviour's mediatorial office,
that it cannot be imagined any one will plead for it. But as I
doubt not but he does pray for others as well as himself, (for I
suppose he uses the established English Liturgy, which he so
zealously pleads for, as a Liturgy without fault or blemish, where
there are many prayers for others as well as ourselves) he must
confute his own argument whenever he undertakes to defend his
practice. We know as well as he that there is but one Mediator
betivixt God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; but then we
know also that this must be understood of one Mediator of
redemption, because God has so frequently commanded us to
pray one for another, that is, to be intercessors or mediators of
intercession for each other. For these reasons I can by no
means think it amiss to pray that we may obtain a place at
God's right hand, by the intercessions and supplications of tit e
saints, which is the passage in St. Basil's Liturgy which this
learned gentleman condemns as a corruption. For if the prayers
of the righteous which they make for others avail much, there is
no question but they help forward, and further the salvation of
those for whom they are made; and therefore it cannot be
unlawful or unfit for those for whom these prayers are made by
3 A

362 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the saints departed, that is, the whole Church on earth, to beg of
God that the prayers of his saints now in paradise, which they
make for their brethren here on earth, may be heard, and that we
may receive the benefits prayed for, and particularly the ^reat
benefit of all, a place at God's right hand in that terrible and
just day. As such intercessions of one Christian, or one part of
the Church for another, are so far from being unlawful, that they
are necessary, and our bounden duty to each other, so they can
be no affront to the mediatorial office of Christ, because such
intercessions are made in his name, and in virtue of his merits.
And if the intercessions themselves are necessary, and for the
honour of Christ, who requires them of us, to pray that such
intercessions may be heard, or that we may be heard or receive
benefit by them, even the greatest benefit of all, the salvation of
our souls, can be no fault. And more than this cannot be col
lected from that passage in this Liturgy, which this learned
gentleman condemns as so indefensible.

§ 36. This other Liturgy of St. Basil, which contains the
passage now considered, as having been so sharply censured,
as I think, without just grounds, is different from the Liturgy of
St. Basil, as used in the Church of Constantinople, though I
thought proper to examine the passage whilst I was animadvert
ing on that Constantinopolitan Liturgy, because I there found
one parallel to it, which I thought it not expedient to pass over
without notice, and I supposed the same defence which served
for the one might serve for the other also. This latter Liturgy,
in the order it is here published, though it goes under the name
of the same author with the former, yet is very different from it
in words, though not in sense, as the reader will easily observe.
Which of these was compiled by the great St. Basil, whose name
they both bear, or whether either of them was compiled by him,
I shall not pretend to say. This is certain, that as the former
was and is still used in the Greek Church throughout the patri
archate of Constantinople, so this latter is the Liturgy most used
among the Coptites in their patriarchate of Alexandria. But
this is evident, that by whomsoever they were composed, they
both of them were compiled agreeable to the traditional form
derived from the Apostles, of which (as I have shewed) the
Clementine Liturgy is the best exemplar. And by comparing

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 363

these Liturgies with that, we shall find this Liturgy of the Cop-
tites to have much the fewest interpolations. The other Liturgy,
which goes under the name of St. Basil, being used in the same
Church where the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom is also used, has
the same interpolations with that, as I before intimated. But
this Liturgy which goes under the name of St. Basil, as to that
part of it here published, has very few interpolations, indeed I
think not any that are material, or can be called corruptions.
Even that prayer wherein God is desired to grant unto his people
a place at his right hand, by the intercessions and supplications
of the Virgin Mary, and all his saints, though it be not in the
Clementine Liturgy, yet cannot be judged an interpolation in a
Liturgy ascribed to St. Basil ; forasmuch as the learned gentle
man who has been pleased to condemn that petition as a very
great corruption,* knows that St. Cyril, who was twenty years
St. Basil's senior, testifies, that the Church in his time prayed,
that God would receive their requests by virtue of the prayers
and intreaties of the saints. Which is as old as any testimony
we have during the first four or five centuries for the use of the
Lord's Prayer in the eucharistic service.

The priest's breaking of the bread a second time, having before
broken it when he recited those words of the history of the insti
tution, He brake it, is not peculiar to this Liturgy, but the same
is directed in almost all the other Greek Liturgies ; but of what
antiquity it is, I do not find, I am contented to allow it not to
have been the practice from the beginning ; but whether it may
not be as old as St. Basil's days, T cannot say. However, I
know not that any has censured it as a corruption, neither shall
I. It is necessary and essential to the institution that the bread
should be broken, and most proper that it should be done when
the words He brake it are pronounced : and accordingly I con
ceive it to have been the practice of all the Churches to break it
at that time. But then it has been and is still not broken at that
time into many pieces, but only into two or three or half a dozen,
that it may be visible to all that the bread is broken before it is
offered to God as the memorial of Christ's broken body. But
then as this bread is to be distributed to every communicant, it
is necessary that it should be broken into more pieces than the

* No Sufficient Reason, part II. p. 63.

364 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

priest can conveniently divide it into, whilst he recites the
history of the institution. Therefore the Greek Liturgies have
generally appointed a place in the service when it should be
done, as in this Liturgy particularly. But the Clementine
Liturgy has no such direction. But whether the pieces delivered
to the communicants are broken off in one certain part of the
service before the time of their delivery, or whether they be not
broken off otherwise than piece by piece as they are delivered, is a
purely indifferent matter, and not worth examining which is most
expedient. The prayer at the bowing of the head, is a plain
precatory form of absolution. It was the practice of the primi
tive Christians commonly to pray standing, and to stand with the
head bowed down was certainly a more humble posture than to
stand erect, and therefore when the priest was going to pray for
mercy, consolation, sanctification, &c. for them, the deacon
called to them to bow their heads to God, it being certainly
proper to put themselves into the humblest posture at that time
particularly, and hence the prayer was called the prayer at the
bowing of the head. This prayer is common to all the Greek
Liturgies, and I cannot say it is an interpolation, and I suppose
none will call it a corruption. The priest's being directed to
pray sometimes with a loud voice, and sometimes with a low
voice, or secretly, might be justified, if the prayers appointed to
be said with a low* voice did not concern the people as well as
the priest : but as most if not all the prayers appointed to be said
privately in this and the other Greek Liturgies do concern the
people as well as the priest, I cannot but look upon that direction
as a corruption. And this is the only corruption I have yet dis
covered in that part of this Liturgy here published, excepting
that from those words, The holy body and precious blood of
Jesus Christ the Son of God, spoke at the delivery of the ele
ments, it appears, that according to this Liturgy they are minis
tered both together in a spoon, according to the present practice
of the Greek Church. But then I shall not conceal, that at the
delivery of the elements, or when the priest begins to distribute
them, as soon as he has said, The holy body and precious blood
of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the people have answered,
Amen ; he then proceeds and says, and the people all join with
him, every one saying, / believe, I believe, I believe, and confess
even to my last breath, that this is the life-giving flesh of thy

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 365

only begotten Son our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He received it from our holy lady the mother of God and ever
Virgin Mary ; and made it one tvith his Divinity, not by com-
mixtion, confusion, or alteration : and he witnessed a good
profession under Pontius Pilate, and of his own free will
delivered it for us all upon the word of the holy cross. I do
truly believe that his divinity was never altogether separated
from his humanity, not so much as for a moment or the twink
ling of an eye. He delivered it for redemption and remission
of sins, and eternal life to those that partake of it. I believe
that it is this indeed. Amen. I thought it proper to take
notice of this, because Renauuotius, who has lately published
this Liturgy in the original Greek, triumphs in this passage, as
utterly overthrowing the Protestant doctrine of a typical or
representative body. This, says he, is a certain testimony, that
they (that is the Coptites) believe the body of Christ is in the
eucharist, not a typical or representative body, but the very
same which was taken by the divine word of the Virgin Mary,
and joined in the closest union to the Divine Person.* A
little after he adds, In the Latin Church there is nothing
equals this, although the belief of the real presence is there
certainly maintained. For where the priest there says, shew
ing the eucharist, Behold the Lamb of God, &c. and in the
distribution of it, The body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve
thy soul unto eternal life. Amen. There is nothing so express
but what the Protestants are accustomed to interpret metapho
rically. So that by a singular miracle of Divine Providence,
more testimonies of this are preserved in those Churches which
are separated from the Catholic by Schism and Heresy, than
in the Catholic Church itself, that, as is done in this age, there
can be no doubt of their faith concerning the eucharist. For
there is nothing in the iiontau Canon, nothing in the prayers
confirmed by public authority, and the ancient discipline of the
Churches amongst us, to testify our faith concerning the eucha
rist, which the Protestants are not accustomed to wrest to
another sense. On the contrary, in the Oriental Churches

* Certissimum docurnentum est credere illos, esse in eucharistia corpus
Christi, non typicum aut representativum, sed illud ipsum quod assumtum est
aVerbo divino ex Maria Virgine, & divinse personse corijunctum ex intima imi
tate. Comment, ad Liturn. Copt. St. Basil, p. 273.

366 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

there remain such prayers and ceremonies, which so confound
all their reasonings, as plainly to be capable of no other sense
than that of the real presence ; and amongst all this confession
especially, which is more full than those prescribed to Beren-
garius and others, whose faith was suspected. *

He observes also, that this confession is in the Greek as well
as the Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil, as used in the Church of
Alexandria, and thence infers that it was in use there before the
Coptites separated from the orthodox Greeks : for whatsoever the
Coptites added afterwards was in their own language, and is not
to be found in the Greek Liturgy. But how strong soever this
confession may be to prove that the Eastern Churches believe
the real presence, I do not conceive that it proves to believe the
doctrine of transubstantiation ; neither does Renaudotius, with all
his flourishes upon this confession, pretend that they hold as the
Church of Rome does, That by the consecration of the bread
and wine, there is a change made of the whole substance of
them into the substance of the body and blood of Christ, and
that conversion is properly and agreeably called by the Catholic
Church trattStt&StanttattOtt* t And it is not the real presence,
but this doctrine of transubstantiation that is the matter in
dispute betwixt the Protestants and Papists. The Church of
England in particular teaches all her children to believe, that the
body and blood of Christ are bettlg and UtttCCtf taken and
received by the faithful in the Lord's supper. And the act,
commonly called the Test Act, as being made to hinder Papists

* In Latina Ecclesia nihil tale, etsi realis praesentiae fides certissime teneatur.
Nam cum Sacerdos dicit, ostendens eucharistiam, Ecce Agnus Dei, &c. & earn
distribuendo : Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitarn
(Kternam. Amen : Nihil tarn expresse significat, quod metaphorice interpretari
protestantes non soleant. Ita per insigne divinse Providentiae miraculum, illis
in Ecclesiis qnas schisrnate & hastes! a Catholica separatae sunt, ne, ut hac setate
facturn est, dubitari possit de illarum circa eucharistiam fide, plura testimonia
illius remanserunt, quam in ipsa Catholica. Nihil quippe in Canone Romano
nihil in precibus publica autoritate antiqua Ecclesiarum disciplina confirmatis^
apud nos est ad contestandam fidem de eucharistia nostram, quod in alienum
sensum a Protestantibus detorqueri non soleat. Contra in orientalibus Ecclesiis
tales supersunt orationes & ceremonias, quae ornnes illorum rationes ita eontur-
bant, ut sensum alium quam realis prassentiaa plane refugiant, &. inter omnes
praecipue haac confessio, quae longe plura continet quam pra?scriptae Berengario
& aliis de quorum fide dubitabatur. Com. ad Liturg. Copt. St. Basil, p. 27o.
f Concil. Trident. Sess. 13. can. 4.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 367

from coming into any places civil or military, does by no means
require any one to deny the real presence, but only to declare
that he does believe that there is not any transubstantiation in
the sacrament of the Lord^s supper, or in the elements of bread
and wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person
whatsoever. * It remains therefore to be examined, whether this
confession, which he proves to be older than the Council of
Chalcedon, (as being in that Greek Liturgy which was used in
the Church of Alexandria before the Coptites separated from the
orthodox) maintains the real presence in such manner as
necessarily implies a transubstantiation ; for if it do not, it is no
evidence of the Eastern Churches believing in this point as the
Church of Rome does, or that they differ from the Protestants,
particularly from the Church of England in this particular. Here
is no declaration, that the bread and wine are changed into
another substance, and therefore how full soever the words may
appear, they are no proof of the Romish doctrine of transubstan
tiation. Indeed, as the learned archbishop Wake says, were there
no other way for Christ to be present in the eucharist, but only
by this change, it might then be allowed, that having, as he
imagines, proved the one, he had in effect established the other. \
But may not Christ be present in the eucharist ? May not the
bread and wine be properly called the very body and blood of
Christ which he received of the Virgin Mary, and which suffered
upon the cross, unless the substance of it be destroyed and
changed into the substance of that very body and blood ? For
both the Scriptures and the ancient fathers called it the body and
blood of Christ, and yet declare also that it did not lose the
nature and substance of bread and wine. Thus St. Paul having
told us how the Lord Jesus took bread, and said, Take, eat :
this is my body which is broken for you. This cup is the new
testament in my blood ; adds immediately, As often as ye eat
this bread, and drink this cup, &c. % Thereby plainly teaching
us, that though our Saviour did make the bread his body, which
was broken for us ; yet it did, nevertheless, still retain the nature
of bread ; that the substance of it was not changed, and that it

* 25 Car. II. c. 2. § 9.

f Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against Monsr. de
Meaux, p, 59.

{ I Cor. xi, 23., &c.

368 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

was bread at the very time it was eaten. So in the beginning of
the next age St. Ignatius, speaking of some heretics of his time,
says, They abstain from the eucharist and from the public
offices, because they confess not the eucharist to be the flesh of
our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and
which the Father of his goodness raised again from the dead.*
Now this confession which St. Ignatius condemns the heretics of
his time for not making, and consequently which all the orthodox
of that age were required to make, is as full as the confession
which is in the Alexandrian Liturgy of St. Basil, though it be not
so long. For if the eucharist is thatjlesh of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father of his
goodness raised again from the dead, then it is plainly the life-
giving flesh of the only-begotten Son, which he received of the
Virgin Mary : for that is the flesh which was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for our justification, f But then
it is certain that St. Ignatius, as well as St. Paul, believed that
the bread was made the flesh of Christ without any change of its
substance. For as St. Paul calls it bread after it is consecrated,
and at the time it is to be eaten, so does Ignatius also. For
thus he says, If a man be not within the altar, he is deprived
of the bread of God. J And again, Obeying your bishop and
the presbytery with an entire affection, breaking one and the
same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, our antidote
that we should not die, but live for ever in Christ Jesus. \\
Justin Martyr also, in that part of his apology here published,
says, We do not receive this as common bread or common drink :
but are taught that it is the flesh and blood of the incarnate
Jesus. Yet after this he presently calls it bread, and wine, and
water. A sure argument that he did not believe, that the bread,
and wine, and ivater, lost their substance, and that they were
so made the body and blood of Christ, as not to continue to be
the same in substance that they were before. St. Cyril of Jeru
salem also, in his fourth Mystagogical Catechisms, taking for his
text the words of St. Paul : — For I received of the Lord that
which I also delivered unto you, says, This doctrine of the

, Sta TO p.r) ofio\oy€iv rr\v
t'ivai T8 fftarfipos ^fuaf 'iTjtrS Xpi<rS, rrjv wrrep afiapTiojy rj^.(t)v TraSsffav, f}v rfj

6 Trarfip ijyeipev. Epist. ad Smyrn. §. 7.
f Rom. iv. 25. J Epist. ad Eph. §. 5. || Ibid. §. 20.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 369

blessed Paul may be sufficient to satisfy you concerning the
divine mysteries which you have received, that you have been
made partakers of the body and blood of Christ. For he now
says, That our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same night wherein he
was betrayed, tool* bread, and when he had given thanks, he
brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, cat : tfjt& IS
tUg fcotMn And taking the cup, and giving thanks, he said, Take,
drink : tf)tS IS WJ> fclOOtJ, When therefore Christ himself so
affirms and says of the bread, tfytS IS Utg foolf£, who shall from
thenceforth dare to doubt of it ? And when he affirms and
says, tl)t8 18 tUJ> folflOtH, who, I say, shall doubt and say, it is
not his blood ? He once changed water into wine in Cana of
Galilee by his own power : and shall he not be thought worthy
of belief in changing wine into blood ? Being invited to a cor
poral wedding, he wrought this miracle, and shall we not much
rather confess him, giving the fruition of his own body and
blood to the children of the bride chamber ? Therefore with
fall assurance let us receive it as the body and blood of Christ.
Can any expressions be fuller than these, to satisfy us that we
are bound to believe that what we do receive in the eucharist is
the very body and blood of Jesus Christ ? He urges our Saviour's
words with all the force and earnestness imaginable. He says,
that since he has said it is his body, and it is his blood, we dare
not doubt of it. And yet after all, it is evident from the very
next words, that he believed no change in the substance of the
bread and wine, saying, For under the species of bread is given to
thee the body, and under the species of wine is given the blood ;
that receiving the body and blood of Christ, thou mayesi be one
body and one blood ivith him. Now by saying the species of
bread, and the species of wine, he plainly teaches, that he believed
the substance and nature of the bread and wine still remains even
after it is made the body and blood of Christ. For where the
substance is changed, the nature and species must be changed
also. But if this be not plain enough, what follows certainly is
so, where he adds, Heretofore Christ discoursing with the Jeu-s,
said, Except ye shall eat my flesh, and drink my blood, ye shall
have no life in you. But they not understanding what was
spiritually spoken, being offended, went their way, because
they thought they ivcre required to eat human Jlesli. It is
evident therefore that St. Cyril, though he scruples not to call the
3 B

370 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

bread the body, and the wine the blood of Christ, and declares it
necessary to believe it to be so, yet did not think the nature or
substance of the bread and wine to be changed into the nature
and substance of Christ's real flesh and blood, so as to be made
human flesh, which is the doctrine of transubstantiation : but
declares as plainly as can be, that he believes the words of eating
Christ's flesh, and drinking his blood, are to be understood spirit
ually : otherwise he could not blame the Jews for understanding
them in a literal carnal sense. And if this be not sufficient to
prove, that this holy father did not believe the bread and wine to
be transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ, in
the fifth Catechism he expressly calls them the antitype or figure,
saying, For in tasting they are not commanded to taste bread
and wine, but the antitype of the body and blood of Christ. I
might produce other passages from the Scripture, and many more
from the fathers of the three or four first centuries, to shew that
though they do call the bread and cup the body and blood of
Christ, in as strong and as absolute terms as may be, yet both
Scripture and fathers plainly teach, by calling it bread and wine
after consecration, and by divers other expressions inconsistent
with a change of the nature and substance of those elements, that
they understood no transubstantiation when they called the bread
the body, and the cup the blood of Christ. But as this has been
done already in many treatises against this most absurd doctrine
of the Church of Home, I shall refer the reader to those treatises,
or parts of treatises, where this point has been fully handled ; and
particularly to Mr. Johnson's " Seeming Excesses of the Fathers
considered ;" * and to Mr. Bingham's " No Elevation of the host
for Divine Adoration in the Ancient Church : " f but chiefly and
more particularly to a small Tract written and lately published
by the very reverend and learned Mr. Spinckes, called, " The
Article of the Romish Transubstantiation enquired into and dis
proved from sense, Scripture, antiquity, and reason." From
whence the judicious reader may gather, (though this confession
in the Alexandrian Liturgy of St. Basil be not taken notice of in
that book, nor do I suppose that the learned author, when he
wrote that excellent treatise, had seen this confession, or Renau-
dotius's flourish upon it) that the confession now under considera-

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part I. p. 248., &c.

f Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. vi, book xv. chap. v. § 4. p. 791.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 371

lion is as agreeable to the doctrine of the Church of England, as
well as to that of the Church of Rome. For in this confession,
upon the priest's holding out the elements to the communicants,
in order to distribute it to them, and saying, " The holy body and
precious blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Amen." Both he
and the people say, " I believe, I believe, I believe, even to my
last breath, that it is the very life-giving flesh of thy only-begotten
Son our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. He received it
from our holy lady the mother of God and ever Virgin Mary," &c.
I see nothing in this confession which implies the bread to be
more than sacramcntaUy his body, or that the Church of Alexan
dria understood any thing more by it than that it was so full and
perfect a representative of his body, so expressly so in power
and effect, that it became them to declare and believe it. And
does not the Church of England believe the bread to be Christ's
body ? This learned gentleman plainly proves from the words of
institution that it does. For, says he, ivhat he told them was
his body, was what he gave them to eat ; what he gave them to
eat, was what he brake ; ivhat he brake, was what he blessed ;
what lie blessed, was ivhat he took ; and ivhat he took, the text
tells us expressly was bread : and it was therefore by necessary
and inevitable consequence this bread of which he said it was
his body. Agreeably whereto the Latin translation of the
Ethiopia Version reads the words thus, Hie pant£ corpus
meum, This ijVCiltf is my body ; and very justly, this being the
only sense they will bear.* Now as the Church of England
professes to believe the words of institution, and as this is the
only sense those words will bear, it is plain she believes them in
this sense, and consequently believes the bread in the eucharist
to be the body or flesh of Christ. And the Alexandrian Con
fession says no more, than that they believe the consecrated
bread which the priest holds out to them to be the life-giving
flesh of Christ. But they do not say that they believed it to be
changed as to its substance, which is the doctrine of the Church
of Rome, so as to be no longer bread. For any thing that appears
in this Confession to the contrary, they believed it to be still
bread, as we do, and the body of Christ in a full antitype, the
name by which St. Cyril, as 1 have shewed, expresses it after he

* The Article of the Romish Transubstantiation, p. 10.

372 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

has declared it to be the body, as fully as it is in this Confession.
The learned Mr. Spinckes shews in the fore mentioned excellent
Treatise,* that we believe the bread to be the body more than in
a bare sign, and proves it from the express words of Mr. Brad
ford, one who suffered in Queen Mary's reign, who says, " it is
his body. This I believe, this I confess; and pray you all
heartily to beware of these and such like words, that it is but a
sign or figure of his body ; except you will discern betwixt signs
which signify only, and signs which also do represent, confirm,
and seal up, (or as a man may say) give with their signification.
The bread is called a partaking of the Lord's body, and not only
a bare sign of the Lord's body." If therefore it should be asked,
how the Alexandrians could declare that they believed the bread
to be the body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary,
%c. and yet not believe it to have changed its substance, but to
continue bread and wine notwithstanding ? I answer, that they
believing as Mr. Bradford did, and as we do, they could not so
well have said, / believe it to be the Sign of the life-giving Jicsh
of Christ, because they, as we, believed it to be more than a bare
sign, and therefore having the authority of our Saviour to call it
his body without any such limitation, they had no reason to
scruple the making their confession in such words as they have
done. But as they do not say that they believed the substance
of the elements to be changed, we have no reason to think that
they did believe so. Forasmuch as there arc so many testimonies
of those who have used as strong expressions as fully affirming
the elements to be the body and blood of Christ, who have never
theless plainly shewed that they did not believe them to be
transubstantiated, but that they still continued to be bread and
wine. And if we may interpret one of St. Basil's Liturgies by
the other, the Liturgy used at Alexandria by that used at Con
stantinople, which it is but reasonable we should, since they
both go under the name of the same author, it is certain this
confession must be understood in the sense here given of it ; that
is, they did not believe the substance of the bread and wine to
be changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ ;
but only that they were sacramentally changed and became his
very body and blood in power and effect. For in the Constauti-

* Pasrc 4.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 373

nopolitan Liturgy that goes under the name of St. Basil, after the
words of institution are pronounced, by which words alone the
Church of Rome pretends that change is made, the gifts arc
called the antitypes of the holy body and Hood of Christ, which
Goar, though a Romanist, translates the representatives of the
body and blood -of Christ. Also after the prayer for the descent
of the Holy Ghost, to make the bread and the cup the body and
blood of Christy and to change them, which prayer a learned
gentleman (as I have before observed) says is in as express terms
as the most zealous transubstantiators could ever desire, the
priest prays, that those who are partakers of the one bread, and
the one cup, may be joined in one Spirit.* A plain argument
that they believed it not to have lost the nature or substance of
bread after the consecration was fully completed, and conse
quently they believed no more of tran substantiation than this
learned gentleman himself.

But what I conceive sets the matter beyond dispute, with
relation to this confession, and evidently proves, that notwith
standing Renaudotius flourishes and triumphs in this confession,
as if it was a demonstration that the Coptite Churches, and as he
pretends all the Eastern Churches also, are of the same opinion
with the Church of Rome in this doctrine of the eucharist, and
that they believe it to be the body and blood of Christ in the
same manner that the Romanists do, yet cannot bring any
evidence of their believing a change in the substance of the
bread, or their holding transubstantiation. Nay, from what he
himself acknowledges, it appears evident that they neither
believe nor know any such doctrine. For speaking of this
confession in his notes upon the Ethiopia Liturgy, f where it is
recited almost in the same words with this in the Alexandrian
Liturgy, he takes occasion to make reflections upon Ludolfus, a
Lutheran, who had undertaken to give an account of the Ethio
pian Church, and accuses him of making no observations on this
confession : but says, that Ludolfus tells us of a conversation he
had with an Ethiopian, to whom he explained the doctrine of
transubstantiation, and the Ethiopian denied that any such doc
trine was maintained in that Church. And what has Renaudo
tius to reply to this ? Can he say that Ludolfus did not rightly

* No Sufficient Reason, part TT. p. 80. f Page 511.

374 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

expound the doctrine of transubstantiation to his Ethiopian, or
that the Ethiopian did not make him such an answer, or that he
himself had discoursed with a more learned Ethiopian, who had
answered, that their Church did believe such a change of sub
stance as is mentioned in the doctrine of transubstantiation ?
No such thing. But he tells us, that Ludolfus should not have
asked the Ethiopian, whether they believed the elements to be
changed into the substance of Christ's body and blood, and to
have lost the substance of bread and wine ? But whether, when
they made that confession, they believed there was nothing in
the paten or the cup but pure simple bread and wine ? If he
had done so, says he, the Ethiopian would have denied that to
be his belief, as one Peter an Ethiopian did to me several years
ago, when I was a young man. But certainly Ludolfus put the
question right, and Renaudotius wrong, as to the difference
betwixt us and the Church of Rome. For as the learned Mr.
Spinckes judiciously observes, the question here between us is
not whether our Saviour's body and blood be in the sacrament,
which is all that the words of institution teach ; I may add, on
this occasion, and all that is necessarily implied in this confession,
Nor whether the elements are changed by a miraculous power
of the Divine Sjririt.* I may add according to Renaudotius's
question, whether they remain simple bread and wine as they
were before consecration, and are not altered as to their quality,
though not their substance, so as of common bread and wine to
become a supernatural food to our souls, by conveying to the
devout Christian all the benefits of our Saviour's body broken,
and his blood shed for 1dm ; each party being agreed in these
points ; but whether the bread and wine still retain their own
nature, and are only spiritually, virtually, and sacramenlaUy
our Saviours body and blood, or whether they are changed so
as no longer to retain their own nature or substance, but to
become flesh and blood, though under the appearance, and
clothed with all the accidents of bread and wine. As therefore
the Ethiopian Church, (and consequently the Alexandrian and
the Eastern Churches, who according to Renaudotius all hold
the same faith in this point) does not, as Ludolfus testifies, and
Renaudotius cannot deny, believe or know any thing of the

* Article of Romish Transubstantiation, &c. p. 4,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 375

doctrine of transubstantiation, it is plain, that how strongly
soever they profess their belief, that the bread and cup are the
very body and blood of Christ which was born of the Virgin
Mary, &c. they must believe it as we do, not that they are
substantially changed into the very body and blood, so as to lose
their former substance, retaining only the accidents, but only that
they are spiritually, virtually, and sacramentally so.

§ 37. The Ethiopic Liturgy is that which is used in the
higher Ethiopia, a country beyond Egypt, and subject in spirit
uals to the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, though I do not find
that he exercises any other jurisdiction over them, saving that he
consecrates a metropolitan for them whenever there is a vacancy.
This country was first converted by Frumentius, a little after the
time of the Council of Nice, who being taken captive and earned
thither a young man, and sold or given to the king ; as he served
in the court, he took occasion to propagate the Christian religion
there, and in time converted the king himself. Then going to
Alexandria to St. Athanasius, he was by him consecrated a
bishop, and sent back again to the same place, where he estab
lished a Church, consecrated bishops, priests, and deacons ; and
as he was consecrated by the bishop of Alexandria, and both he
and his successors ever since have acknowledged that patriarch
for their superior, we have no reason to doubt but he received the
form of administering the communion from thence.

This Church of Ethiopia now receives her metropolitan from
the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, and has done so ever since
the Mahometans gained the dominion of Egypt, in the year of our
Lord 639, For Dioscorus the patriarch of Alexandria, though
condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451, and
deposed by that Council, for maintaining that the t\vo natures in
Jesus Christ, the human and divine, were not distinct after the
incarnation, but united into one nature as well as one person ;
yet finding great numbers of the bishops, clergy, and people of
Egypt were still willing to adhere to him, he continued to execute
his patriarchal office amongst his followers, and was succeeded by
other patriarchs of his own sect, notwithstanding there was a new
orthodox patriarch put into his See. And though Dioscorus and
his successors lay under a severe persecution for the greatest
part of near two hundred years, yet his party in Egypt continued

376 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

all that time to be very numerous, and could not be suppressed.
And when the Mahometans invaded Egypt, this party closing
immediately with them, made the conquest easy to them ; and
the Mahometan general, to reward them for the assistances they
had given him, fixed Benjamin, who was then their patriarch, in
the full possession of the See of Alexandria, and also put all their
other bishops into the possessions of the Sees which they claimed
as their own : and the orthodox had no patriarch at all, if they
had any bishops in Egypt, from the year 639 to the year 730.
During which space the Coptic patriarchs, who claim their suc
cession from Dioscorus, consecrated metropolitans for the Church
of Ethiopia, and brought that country over to their sect. And
therefore, though ever since the year 730 there has been an ortho
dox Greek patriarch of the Church of Alexandria, as well as a
patriarch of the Coptites, yet the Ethiopians have always received
their metropolitan from the Coptic patriarch, having closed in
with that sect. All this we may learn from Renaudotius's history
of the patriarchs of Alexandria. But though the orthodox and
the Coptitc patriarchs separated from each other, and have their
different Churches or places of assembly in the same city, and
they and their followers treat each other as schismatics and here
tics, yet they use, or at least for many ages together did use the
same Liturgy, the same communion office, that is, the Liturgy of
St. Mark : for the Coptites still use that Liturgy, though called
by them the Liturgy of St. Cyril, as Renaudotius has proved in
his dissertation and notes on that Liturgy. And that the ortho
dox did also use that same Liturgy in that patriarchate, Renau
dotius also proves from the testimony of Marcus,* the orthodox
patriarch of Alexandria, in the latter end of the twelfth or begin
ning of the thirteenth century, who in his letter to Balsamon, the
famous Greek Canonist, plainly affirms it ; though now the
orthodox Church at Alexandria have conformed to the practice of
the Greek Church at Constantinople, and use the Liturgies of St.
Chrysostom and St. Basil as they do. But the Ethiopian
Church, which still adheres to the Coptic patriarch, preserves also
their old Liturgy, which is plainly taken from the Liturgy of St.
Mark. For it begins as that does by setting the intercession for
all estates and conditions of men before the eucharistical prayer

* Dissert, cle Coptit. Alexandria. Liturg. p. 105.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 377

of consecration. The incense also is here used during the cele
bration of the Canon or Anaphora, in both which the Liturgy of
St. Mark is particular and different from the generality of the rest.
Here is also the confession concerning the belief of the eucharist
to be the body and blood of Christ, near or altogether the same
with that I have already considered in the Alexandrian Liturgy
of St. Basil. Other particulars there are in this Liturgy, which
I have not found or observed in any of those I have already
considered ; as the mentioning their patriarch and their king by
name, our patriarch Gabriel, our king Lebna-Dingil. For
though this be the common practice in England at this time, and
it is certainly very justifiable and commendable, yet it does not
appear to have been the practice of the ancient Church, and this
is the earliest instance of it I have yet met with. In this
Liturgy there is also a petition, that the prayers of the angels
may be heard for us, and some names of angels are also men
tioned, as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Suriel. There are
likewise the names of a great many of their own particular saints,
of whom we know nothing. But it is evident from the priest's
ministering the bread, and the deacon's ministering the cup,
which is expressly ordered in this Liturgy, that the custom of
giving both together in a spoon had not yet taken place in that
Church.

§ 38. In the year 431, Nestorius patriarch of Constantinople
was deposed in the general Council of Ephesus, for so separating
between the Divine and human natures of Christ, as to divide
him into two persons, not allowing any thing which was peculiar
to the Divine nature to be spoken of the man Christ Jesus: not
permitting it to be said that God was born of the Virgin Mary,
or that God suffered or shed his blood for us, although the Scrip
ture expressly says, that God hath purchased the Church with
his Otou blood.* Therefore being justly condemned and deposed
for this heresy, so directly contrary to Scripture and the tradition
of the Church, he was banished from Constantinople by the
emperor, and confined sometimes to one place, sometimes to
another, and wandered about to the time of his death. His
followers also, which were pretty many,f finding no peaceable

* Acts xx. 28. f Renaudot. Dissert, de Nestor. Liturg. p, 567.

3 c

378 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

enjoyment of their meetings in the Roman empire, retired into
Mesopotamia, which was then under the empire of the Persians,
where they found not only protection but favour, insomuch that
Chosroes the Persian king not only gave them the Church of
Edessa, but also compelled the other Christians in his dominions
to communicate with them : by which means they gradually
spread themselves and are become very numerous in the East,
where they erected a patriarchate at Seleucia or Ctesiphon,
though they called not their Primate by the name Patriarch, but
Catholic ;* which Catholic is their chief or sovereign bishop,
who has authority over all bishops and archbishops, and who has
for many ages kept his residence at Bagdad near Old Babylon.
The Liturgy here published under the name of Nestorius is one
of those used by that sect. It is indeed imperfect ; but it seems
Renaudotius could not find a perfect Nestorian Liturgy: for
though he has published three of them, there are chasms in every
one of them. There appears to be nothing peculiar to this
Liturgy, excepting that the intercession is put between the words
of oblation and the invocation of the descent of the Holy Ghost.
There is also one passage which is apparently a Nestorian
interpolation, clapt in by some of that sect in favour of their
heresy : and it is this, which is put into the eucharistic prayer ;
He took the form of a servant, perfect man, of a reasonable,
intelligent, and immortal soul, and human flesh subsisting, and
joined it to himself, uniting it with himself in glory, power, and
honour. These words, especially out of the mouth of a Nestorian,
as Renaudotius observes, cannot be expounded to a Catholic
sense, t For whereas the Orthodox believe the unity of the two
natures in Christ to be a personal union, the Nestorians reduce
this to a participation of honour, power, and dignity. Bating
this, and the priest's praying sometimes with a loud voice, and
sometimes with a low voice, I have not met with any thing in
this Liturgy which deserves to be called an interpolation, or
which is not agreeable to the Clementine Liturgy.

§ 39. Severus having some time led a monastic life, by the
power of the emperor Anastasius, who had joined himself to the
party that were enemies to the Council of Chalcedon, got Flavian,

* Renaudot. Hist, Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 406
f Dissert, de Nest. Litur. p. 577.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 379

the Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, to be driven from his See, and
himself to be settled in his place, and then set himself to propa
gate the heresy for which Dioscorus had been condemned, and
by the assistance of the imperial authority persecuted the Ortho
dox in Syria and Palestine very severely, causing several o^
them to be put to death, and denying them burial. By which
means he much diminished the numbers of the Orthodox Chris
tians, and increased the number of those who adhered to the
Monophy sites, or those who believed God and man in Jesus
Christ to be united not only in one person, but one nature also.
But as Severus had gotten his predecessor ejected by the imperial
power of Anastasius, so also was Severus himself made to fly
from Antioch by the emperor Justin, lurking about and wander
ing in some parts of Egypt till he died. However his party died
not with him ; and though the Orthodox emperors who succeeded
Justin did what lay in them to extirpate this heresy, yet the
Monophy sites have to this very day many Churches in Syria, and
a patriarch at Antioch, who holds a strict communion with the
Coptic patriarch of Alexandria ; those two patriarchs sending
each of them his communicatory letters to the other, to give him
notice of his advancement to that station, according to the
practice of the ancient Church, as we learn from Renaudotius's
History of the patriarchs of Alexandria. Whether this Liturgy
which bears his name, was written by him, I cannot say, but it
is certainly one of the oldest Liturgies amongst the Monophysites,
and appears to have the fewest interpolations of any Liturgy
since the Clementine now extant. Here is no incense, no Hail
Mary full of grace, no dipping the bread into the cup, nor so
much as any words intimating the bread and wine to be given
together in a spoon. But there is nevertheless one thing peculiar
to this Liturgy, not to be met with in any of the Liturgies here
published ; and that is, that after the words of institution, in
making the oblation, the prayer is directed to the Son, and not to
the Father : the priest saying, Wey therefore, O Lord Jesus,
offering this unbloody sacrifice, beseech thee, $c. Now though
as we believe Christ to be God consubstantial with the Father,
it is not at all improper, nay it is very fit that we should some
times direct our petitions to him ; yet surely in this place it is
very improper to do so, because in the celebration of the cucharist
we are commanded to do what Christ did, and not only to offer

380 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

what he did, but also to offer it as he did. Now we are certain
he did not offer himself to himself, hut to the Father. And this
practice of making the oblation, or at least of the address accom
panying the oblation to the Son, seems to be peculiar to the
Monophysites, or followers of Dioscorus and Severus. For I find
nothing like it in any Liturgies, but what appertain to those
heretics. The Coptites have one entire Liturgy or communion
office, in which every petition is directed to the Son, which they
say was composed by one Gregory, whom they called the Divine:
and the Syrian Monophysites have a great many Liturgies
published by Renaudotius, where though the other prayers are
directed to God the Father, yet the oblation or address at the
oblation is directed particularly to the Son. But I do not
remember to have met with any thing of this kind in any Liturgy
used by any other sect or party of Christians.

§ 39. The Gothic, the Gallican, and the Mosarabic Liturgies,
were used in these Western parts of the world till the Roman
Liturgy displaced them. The Gothic or Gothico-Gallican Missal
was used in that part of Gaul or France which was anciently
called Gallia Narbonensis, containing the provinces of Narbon,
Languedoc, Provence, and Savoy. The Gallican Missal was
used in the other provinces of Gaul and in Britain also, being
introduced here, as bishop Stillingfleet has proved, by St. German,
who came over hither with Lupus, about the year 429, to free
this Church from the Pelagian heresy.* The Mosarabic Missal
was used in the Churches of Spain, at least as early as the fifth
century, as Cardinal Bona has proved. f It was called the
Mosarabic or Mixtarabic Missal, because the Spaniards being
conquered by the Moors or Arabians, and so intermingled with
them, were for some time called Mixt-Arabians. These three
Liturgies being, therefore, certainly as old as the fifth century,
and it may be older, seem to have been the first written Liturgies
used in these parts of the world. For St. Basil, as I have before
observed, who flourished not till the latter end of the fourth cen
tury, seems to have been the first who authoritatively published
any communion office in writing : and the Gallican Liturgy was
introduced into Britain before the middle of the fifth century, and

* Antiquities of British Churches, p. 216.
f De Reb. Liturg. 1. 1. c. 11. p. 125.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 381

was used in France for some time before, and therefore cannot be
much later than St. Basil's days ; and the Gothic and Mosarabic
Liturgies are probably of the same age. Nor can we find any
elder written Missals in the provinces where those Liturgies
were used : and it is a misfortune that we have them not trans
mitted to us complete. But when Austin the Monk came over }
hither to convert our Saxon ancestors to the Christian faith, who
had by that time confined the poor Britains to Wales and Corn
wall, he brought with him the Roman Canon, which from that ;
time forward was used in this realm. However, it is likely the *
Gallican Missal continued to be used in Wales till the reign of
our king Henry the First, and about the year 1115, when the
bishops of Wales were brought under the jurisdiction of the i
Archbishop of Canterbury. In France both the Gothic and
Gallican Missals were laid aside,* and the Roman introduced
instead of them, in the time and by the power of Charles the
Great, who being made emperor of Rome about the year 800,
thought convenient to introduce the Roman rites into all his
dominions. The use of the Mosarabic Missal was also abolished
in Spain by the authority of Pope Gregory VII,, about the year
1080.t Thus these Liturgies having not been used in any
Church for many ages, are so far lost, that we have not any one '
of them transmitted to us complete or perfect ; only some frag- ' '
ments of them have been found intermixed with the offices used
on particular days : of which it has been thought proper to tran
scribe so much as may convince the reader, that these Liturgies
were agreeable to the Clementine, or the Liturgy taken from the
book called the "Apostolical Constitutions;" that they, every
one of them, begin the oblation with an eucharist or thanksgiving
prayer, which prayer is continued from the words, It is truly
meet, right, and our boiinden duty, till the petition for the
descent of the Holy Ghost to bless and sanctify the elements ;
and that not only the words of institution, but a form of oblation
and invocation of the Holy Ghost, were always used to complete
the consecration. The Mosarabic Missal has also the words,
Holy things are for holy persons, to be said by the priest imme
diately before he distributes the elements. Whether those words
were used in the Gothic or Gallican Missals, we cannot say,

* Bona do Reb. Liturg. lib. 1, c. 12, f Tbid, c. 12.

38-2 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

§ 40. I come now to the Roman Canon ; which, though it has
prevailed in all these Western Churches for several ages, that is,
here in England, from the time that our Saxon ancestors were
converted, till the Reformation, by the space of 900 years : in
France, Italy, and Germany, from the time of Charles the Great
to this day, which is about the same space of time ; and in Spain,
from Gregory VII. until now, for between 6 and 700 years ; yet as
its original is later than that of any other Liturgy here published, I
conceive its authority ought to be less. The Romanists them
selves, as we learn from Cardinal Bona, are not agreed about the
author of it.* Some mate pope Gelasius to have been the author
of it, who flourished about the year 492. And if that could be
proved, it might challenge an antiquity not above an hundred
years later than the time when the Greek Liturgies began to be
written, and is a little older than the Liturgy of Severus before
mentioned, and here also published. Now that pope Gelasius
did compose some sacramental forms, Dr. Cave thinks sufficiently
evident from several testimonies, f But then the learned doctor
acknowledges, that in the book published by Thomasius, as the
Liturgy of Gelasius, there are some things which are certainly of
a later original, and not older than the time of pope Gregory the
Great. And I cannot think, that if the present Roman Canon
had been compiled by Gelasius, he would have omitted the men
tion of the Holy Ghost in the petition for a blessing on the bread
and cup, to make them the body and blood of Christ, because, as
Mr. Johnson observes, in that celebrated place in his tract against
Nestorius and Eutyches, cited by all that write against transub-
stantiation, he says, The bread and wine pass into a divine
substance, their proper nature remaining, by the efficacy of the
Holy Ghost. % Others suppose Musaeus, a presbyter of Marseilles,
about the year 458, (which is before the time of pope Gelasius)
to have been the author of this Canon, and others attribute it to
Voconius, bishop of Castilla in Mauritania, about the year 460.||
But they assert this only upon conjecture, and for no other reason
that I can find, but that these two persons did write some sacra-
mentary offices ; but what they were we cannot now say, all

* Bon. de reb. Liturg. lib. *2. cap. 11. p. 477.

f Histor. Lit. Vol. i. p. 375.

J Unbloody Sacrifice, Part I. p. 187.

|| Bona de reb. Liturg. lib. ii. cap. xi. p. 177.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 383

their works being lost. Neither is it at all probable that the
sacramentary of an African bishop, or of a French presbyter,
should be received by the Church of Rome, and yet not received
in the Churches to which they belonged for many ages after.
For the Gothic or Gallican Liturgy, very different from the
Roman Canon, continued to be used in the Church of Marseilles
some hundreds of years after the time of Musaeus, and we have no
proof that the present Roman Canon was ever used in Africa .
Others, says the learned cardinal, attribute it to Gregory the
Great : but, says he, Gregory himself says, it was composed by a
scholastic ;* but at what time he does not say. And without
dispute, pope Gregory's evidence is very good in this case, it
being what did not long precede his own time. For though Bona
says, it is certain this scholastic, whosoever he was, must have
been older than pope Gelasius, or any of the others before named,
yet he brings no proof at all for this assertion. And it is very
probable that he was but little older than pope Gregory, at least
that he was later than Gelasius, since we have so much reason to
believe that in Gelasius's time the Holy Ghost was desired to
bless the elements ; but he is riot mentioned in the present Canon.
However Bona endeavours to prove his assertion by the authority ^
of pope Vigilius, who was fifty years before pope Gregory, who
tells us in his epistle to Eucherius, that the Canon which the
Romans then used was received from Apostolical tradition. But * '
this I think so far from proving this scholastic to have been older
than pope Gelasius, that it shews him to have been younger than
Vigilius, and very little older than Gregory himself. For if the
Liturgy used in the time of Vigilius was that which the Romans
had used from the Apostles' days, and the Liturgy used in Gre
gory's time was one composed by a scholastic ; that Liturgy
which Gregory speaks of must have been composed or at least
received by the Roman Church, and so acquired its authority
betwixt the time of pope Vigilius and pope Gregory. If it be
said, that this scholastic only put into writing the traditional
Liturgy which the Church of Rome had received from the
Apostles ; and, therefore, Vigilius and Gregory might both mean
the same Liturgy, yet this is no proof that the scholastic lived
before Vigilius, much less before Gelasius, as Bona asserts. For

* Gregor. lib. vii. Epist. Ixiv.

384 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Vigilius says nothing of the scholastic or any other compiler of
the Roman Liturgy, but only of the Liturgy used in his own time.
But by whomsoever or whensoever the Roman Canon was com
posed, it is certain from Gregory's own epistle, that he himself
made several alterations in it, in particular that he added the
Lord's Prayer to it, which was not used before in the Canon of
that Church : for which he excuses himself, by saying, that the
Apostles consecrated with the Lord's Prayer only. His words
are : — We, therefore, say the Lord's Prayer immediately after
the form of consecration, because it was the custom of the
Apostles to consecrate the host of oblation with that Prayer
only. * But will the Romanists, or any other who make the
whole of the consecration of the eucharist to consist in the recital
of the words of institution, believe that the Apostles consecrated
without any use of those words ? Yet this is what pope Gregory
asserts ; for he says, they consecrated with the Lord's Prayer
OU!l>, not with the Lord's Prayer and the words of institution, as
he is commonly said to tell us. But then pope Gregory lived at
too great a distance from the Apostles, to be able to say this of
his own knowledge, and he brings no vouchers for his assertion ;
neither have we any reason to believe he had any, since the tes
timony of the Universal Church is against him in this point, as
appears from what has been already said in this dissertation.
However, if we could be certain that the Roman Canon we
have now, was the same that it wras in pope Gregory's time, it
would deserve more regard than I can think it does at present.

It is indeed agreeable to the Canon in Pope Gregory's Sacra-
mentary as published by Menardus, which is reckoned the best
edition of it ; but Du Pin, a learned Romanist, tells us, that " it
cannot be affirmed that the Sacramentarium of St. Gregory is
such now as it was in his time. But on the contrary, it is
certain that we have it not in its purity, and that many things
are added to it ; for it is now a long time since three authors
were placed before it, to distinguish what was St. Gregory's, and
what was added. The Abbot Grimboldus, the Priest Rodradus
Monk of Tours, who lived about the year 849, and Albinus or
Alcuinus, took this care in the editions which they made of the

* Orationem Dominicam idcirco mox post precem dicimus, quia mos Aposto-
lorum fuit, ut ad istam soluramodo orationem oblationis hostiam consecrarent.
Gregor. lib. vii. Epist. Ixiv.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 385

Sacramentary. But they do not agree among themselves about
what is added to it, which shews that they have no certain proof
of it, but that they make this distinction only by conjecture."*

Now if the learned were convinced within 200 years after the
death of Gregory, and about the time the Roman Missal began
to be used in France and other countries, subject to the empire
of Charles the Great, that the Missal was even then altered from
what it was in Gregory's days, and the most learned of that age,
(for such were the three here mentioned) knew not how to correct
it otherwise than by conjecture, what reason have we to believe
the present Canon to be the same it was in Gregory's time ?
Though if it could be proved so ancient, it would even then be
more modern than any other of the ancient Liturgies here pub
lished, and consequently of less authority ; however by the power
of the bishop of Rome, and not by any excellency it had above
other Liturgies, it prevailed to be the established Liturgy of the
whole Western Church. But though the Roman Missal became
hereby the standing Missal of all those Churches which sub
mitted to the authority of the bishop of Rome, yet this was not
without a mixture of different prayers and ceremonies in different
Churches. Cardinal Bona taking occasion to refute Matthias
Flaccus Illyricus, a learned Lutheran, and the principal author
of the famous Magdeburgensian centuries, who about the year
1557 published a Missal, which he pretends was used in the
Western Church before the Roman Missal was introduced,
having proved this Missal of Illyricus to be no other than the
Roman, interpolated with several other prayers, he says, As a
man when he is naked, and the same wan when lie has many
garments on, is still one and the same man, so the Roman
Missal is still the Roman, although many prayers are intermin
gled with zY.f A little after he shews, that this was customary
in many places to join other prayers to those which belonged to
the Missal itself, and upon that occasion says, Forasmuch then
as the Roman Mass, with many other prayers added to it, like
that which Illyricus says was the ancient Galilean, was fre
quent in Italy, and common in other Churches, it manifestly
follows that this was not the form of any kingdom or province,
but was ordered to be used in one or a few Churches by the

* Du Pin, Bibliotheq. Centur. vi. pp. 101, 102.
•f* Bona de reb. Liturg. lib. i. cap. xii. p. 14o.
3 D

386 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

private authority of their own bishop, without any approbation
of Synods or of the Apostolic See* From all which I think it
is evident, that the Roman Canon was not so received in any
part of the Church which acknowledged the authority of the
Roman See, but that the bishops of those Churches thought
themselves at liberty to add such other prayers and ceremonies
thereto, as they judged expedient for the use of their own parti
cular districts And that this was done in this realm as well as
in other places, we may learn from the preface to the present
Common Prayer Book, where it speaks concerning the service of
the Church^ where we are told, that heretofore there hath been
great diversity in saying and singing in Churches within this
realm ; some following Salisbury use, some Hereford use, and
some the use of Bang or, some of York, some of Lincoln : now
from henceforth all the realm shall have biit one use. By
which it is evident, these several uses continued here till the
Reformation. And pope Pius V. in his bull for confirmation of
the present Roman Mass-book, which is prefixed to the book
itself, intimates as much to other countries, when he forbids any
other form to be used but that prescribed by him in any cathe
dral or parish Church, or in any conventual or collegiate
Church or Chapel, except the form and order used by them has
been approved by the Apostolic See, or have been used in that
Church for above 200 years. Yet in this case he recommends
the present Roman form to them, saying, As we do by no means
take away this Constitution or custom of celebrating from them,
so if this Missal we have now taken care to publish, please
better than those they now use, we do allow them, notwith
standing any obligations to the contrary, with the consent of
the bishop or ordinary, and of the whole chapter, to say Mass
according to it.^ But then as to other Churches not so privi-

* Cum igitur Missa Romana multis superadditis orationibus ad instar ejus
quam Illyricus veterem Gallicanam fuisse dixit, in Italia quoque usitata atque
aliis Ecclesiis communis fuerit, hinc satis perspicue infertur non fuisse eum
ritum specialem alicujus regni vel provinciaa ; sed uni tantum vel aliquot
Ecclesiis privata episcopi auctoritate absque ulla Synodorum vel Apostolicae
sedis approbatione tributum. Bona de reb. Liturg lib, i. cap. xii. p. 148.

f Ut praefatam celebrandi constitutionem vel consuetudinem nequaquam
auferimus, sic si Missale hoc quod mine in lucem edi curavimus, iisdem magis
placeret, de episcopi, vel praelati, capitulique universi consensu, ut quibusvisnon
obstantibus juxta illud Missas celebrare possint, permittiinus.

THE PRECEDING LITUKGIES. 387

leged by some pope, or by such prescription, he allows no such
liberty but requires, by virtue of the holy obedience due to him,
that laying aside for the future all other forms and rites wont
to be observed from other Missals how ancient soever they may
be, they sing or read the Masses, according to the rite, order,
and rule, which is now prescribed by this Missal : neither let
them presume to add or recite other ceremonies or prayers in
the celebration of the Mass, other than what are contained in
this Missal.* From all which I think it is evident, that till the
time of pope Pius V. and the Council of Trent, by virtue of whose
decree the pope corrected and published it, that is, till some time
after the Reformation, there were various forms of using the ,
Roman Canon, and different rites and different prayers were used
with it in several places. Since then we are not only so uncer
tain of the time when the author lived by whom the Roman
Canon was compiled, but are also assured that it has been inter
polated as well as other Liturgies, and has not always been used
with the same rites, ceremonies, and prayers, in all places where
it has been received, and that as it is now used, it stands only
upon the papal authority, and that of the Council of Trent, that
is, an authority later than the Reformation, and not yet 200 years
old ; there is no reason to prefer it to the most exceptionable of
the foregoing Liturgies, much less to make it a pattern or
standard for a communion office, agreeable to the practice of the
ancient Church, for it seems least agreeable to that practice of
any office I have seen. Indeed Cardinal Bona says, that it has
not been interpolated, and that it is unlawful to interpolate it ;f
and that though interpolations and additions have been made to
other parts of the Missal, there have been none made to that
which is strictly called the Canon, which is that here published ;
and that pope Vigilius says, they received it by tradition from
the Apostles. But we have seen nevertheless that even the Canon
has been interpolated; that pope Gregory, as appears from his <
own epistle, added the Lord's Prayer to it, which, though a good

* Illis in virtute sanctag obedientise prsecipientes, ut caeteris omnibus ration -
ibus, &, ritibus ex aliis Missalibus quantumvis vetustis hactenus observari
consuetis, in posterum penitus omissis, ac plane rejectis, Missam juxta ritum,
modum ac normam, qu;e per Missale hoc a nobis mine traditur, decantent, ac
legaut : neque in Missae celebratione alias ceremonias vel preces, quam qns!
hoc Missali continentur, addere vel recitare prjesnmant.
f De reb. Liturg. lib. ii. cap. xi.

388 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

and proper addition, is yet an addition, and proves that it was
not before in the Canon. I have also shewed before in my obser
vation on the Liturgy of St. James, * that what follows the
Lord's Prayer has been added since Gregory's time, and is called
by some of the Romanists themselves an embolism or interpola
tion. Nay, even the Council of Trent itself dares not say, that
the Canon, as it now stands, was derived to them from pure
Apostolical tradition : they only say, That this sacrifice might
be worthily and reverently offered, the Catholic Church many
ages ago instituted the sacred Canon free from all error, com
piled from the very words of our Lord, the traditions of the
Apostles, and the institutions of popes. ,f We have, therefore,
the testimony of the Tridentine fathers, whose authority I suppose
no Romanist will dispute, that this Canon is of a later date than
the Apostolical age, and that it could not be the Canon prescribed
by St. Peter and St. Paul, the founders of the Roman Church,
being compiled as well out of the institutions of the popes, which
succeeded them, as from their traditions. And indeed the Canon
itself speaks it, when it celebrates the memory not only of those
and the other Apostles, but of many other saints and martyrs
which lived several ages after them. Though if there was no
other objection to the Apostolical authority of this Missal, the
bare addition of some names would be no material objection.
Having therefore shewed, that this Missal can lay the least claim
to antiquity of any that pretend to antiquity at all, I shall now
proceed to examine it according to the Clementine Liturgy,
which I think has been proved, by Mr. Bingham as well as
myself, to be the best exemplar of the traditional Liturgy taught
by the Apostles, and is asserted by bishop Hickes to be the test
and standard by which all others are to be tried. It begins as
that and almost all other Liturgies do as to the Anaphora or
Canon, with The Lord le with you : Lift up your hearts, &c.
And then proceeds to the eucharistical prayer as far as to the
conclusion of the Seraphic hymn ; before which there are proper
prefaces for several festivals, containing praises and thanksgivings

* Supr. § 32.

f Ut saeriiicium hoc digne reverenterque offerretur, Ecclesiam Catholicam
multis ante saeculis sacrum Canonem instituisse ab omni errore purum, ex ipsis
Domini verbis, Apostolorum traditionibus, & pontificum institutionibus confla-
tura. Condi. Trident, sess. xxii. cap. iv.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 389

proper to their particular occasions, and therefore very agreeable
to an eucharistic prayer. But then this thanksgiving prayer
concludes with the Seraphic hymn, and has no commemoration
of God's mercy declared in the creation and redemption of the
world, which was certainly the practice of the Apostles and of
the Primitive Church, as we learn from Justin Martyr. And the
Canon proceeds directly to a petition to God to accept the gifts
laid before him, and then proceeds to a general intercession,
which in the Clementine Liturgy, and in all the other Liturgies
but that of St. Mark and the Ethiopic, which is chiefly taken
from that, follows the oblation. The intercession also is very
short and imperfect, particularly there is no petition for the king
and those that are in authority under him, which is certainly
contrary not only to Apostolical practice, but also to direct Apos
tolical precept, * which requires us to offer eucharists as well
as prayers for kings and all in authority ; and therefore not to
intercede for them when we offer the eucharist, is to break an
Apostolical command. This intercession concludes with a com
memoration of the Virgin Mary, the Apostles, and other saints,
through whose merits and prayers God's protection is desired.

Now though I cannot think it unlawful to desire that we may
be heard through the prayers of the saints, that is, that God
would vouchsafe to hear their prayers for us, yet I can by no
means approve of desiring to be heard through their merits;
such a petition is plainly derogatory to the honour of Jesus
Christ, who being God as well as man, was alone capable of
meriting for mankind, and the very greatest and best of the saints
were but unprofitable servants, who did but what w.as their duty
to do. Then follows a prayer for God's acceptance of the
oblation, and to desire him to bless and sanctify it: now this
petition seems preposterously put in this place, it being certainly
more proper to desire this acceptance after the oblation is made,
rather than before it, and to desire that God would complete and
perfect it with his blessing after we have performed our parts ;
for till then it is not properly an oblation, otherwise than as it
may be so called by way of anticipation, as it is brought to the
altar to be offered, though the oblation be not yet made : and
therefore the Clementine and all other Liturgies place this

* 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

390 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

petition after the words of institution and the oblation. But
then there is also another defect in this prayer for the sanctifica-
tion of the elements, in that there is no petition that they may be
sanctified by the Holy Ghost : sanctification by the Holy Ghost
may probably be implied in this prayer ; but sure it would have
been better to have expressed it as it is in the Clementine and
other ancient Liturgies. Then follow the words of institution
and the prayer of oblation, with a thankful remembrance of
Christ's death, which are agreeable enough to the most ancient
Liturgies, and what we find to have been the constant practice
of the Church. Then comes another proper petition for God's
acceptance of the sacrifice, and commanding it to be brought to
his heavenly altar by the hands of his holy angel, agreeable to a
like petition in the Clementine Liturgy in the bidding prayer of
the deacon. And this prayer, as I have shewed,* Mr. Bingham
has judiciously proved is not reconcilable to the doctrine of
transubstantiation : For, says he, how can man pray (without
indignity to the Son of God) that the sacrifice of God's only
Son may be as acceptable as the sacrifice of Abel was? Or
how does Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father, need
the mediation of the angels to be carried or presented to his
Father at the heavenly altar ? The commemoration and prayer
for the dead, which comes in the next place, is a testimony that
this Canon, though not so ancient as other Liturgies, is yet elder
than the doctrine of Purgatory. For here is no petition for those
that are in pain or torment, but only for those that having died
with the sign of faith, do now rest in the sleep of peace: to which
is added a prayer, that those then present may have their portion
in the society of the holy apostles, martyrs, and saints, ending
with glory and honour to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Then follows the Lord's Prayer, which, as I have before observed,
was added by Pope Gregory at the latter end of the sixth
century : which though it be not in the Clementine Liturgy, nor
appears to have been thought a necessary part of this office, yet
is a good and proper addition, and was in the ancient Liturgy of
the Church of Jerusalem, as we learn from St. Cyril's account of
that office. When this prayer is ended, the priest repeats the
last petition, and prays for deliverance from evil through the

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 391

intercession of the saints. Then turning to the people, and
praying for their peace, he puts a piece of bread into the cup,
praying that this mixture of the body and blood may procure
eternal life to those that receive it. This custom I have already
considered,* and given my reasons why it is not to be approved,
though it may seem to have been almost an universal practice ;
but there is nothing of it in the Clementine Liturgy, nor is it
mentioned by any of the fathers of the four first centuries, and
therefore plainly wants antiquity. Then the priest, after having
said, O Lamb of God, that takes aivay the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us, grant us thy peace, after a short Collect
for the peace of the Church, he then gives the Pax, a little board
with a cross or crucifix upon it, which every communicant kisses,
as a testimony of his being in peace and charity with every body.
Cardinal Bona produces upon this occasion a great many testi
monies from the fathers, proving that the ancient Christians
always gave to one another a kiss of peace before they received
the holy eucharist, as a testimony of their mutual love and
charity to each other, f Arid indeed I do not find it omitted in
any of the ancient Liturgies, though in the constitutions and all
the Greek Liturgies it precedes the words, Lift up your hearts,
and therefore fell not so properly under my consideration till I
came to this part of the Roman Mass. The English reader may-
see the authorities of the ancients produced for this practice in
Mr. Bingham's " Antiquities of the Christian Church." J And
we cannot doubt of its being an Apostolical practice, when we
read St. Paul, saying, Salute one another with an holy kiss.^
Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. || Greet all the
brethren with an holy kiss. *k And St Peter saying, Greet ye
one another with a kiss of charity.** And this practice seems
by the Liturgies to be still continued in the Eastern Churches
for the clergy to kiss the bishop or officiating priest, the laymen
their fellow laymen, and the women the women, as the book of
the Constitutions or the Clementine Liturgy directs. But as
Mr. Bingham observes, it seems to have been the custom in the
Latin Churches to salute promiscuously, without distinction of

* Supr. §. 32. f Bon, de reb. Liturg. lib. 2. c. 16.

+ Vol. 6. Book 15. §. 3. p. 640. § Rom. xvi. 16.

|| 1 Cor. xvi. 20. 2 Cor. xiii. 12. f I Thess. v. 26.

** 1 Pet. v. 14.

392 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

men and women. Because Tertullian, among other arguments
which he uses why a Christian woman should not marry an
heathen, says this is one, that he would be unwilling to suffer her
to go into the prisons to kiss the martyrs' chains, or at other times
to give the kiss of peace to a brother. Therefore Bona says,
that the ancient simplicity at length degenerating into malici
ousness, this kiss by little and little was laid aside, and instead
of it a custom introduced of holding out a little board with a
cross or crucifix, which the writers of latter ages call the
Oscillatory, of which word Spelman speaks in his Glossary.
This when the priest first kisses, and then the people, they
testify that they have the same mutual charity and faith,
which therefore was testified by the kiss. Others perform this
by a mutual embrace, and the kiss with the mouth was yet in
use in the time of Pope Innocent III. who particularly speaks
of it in his fifth chapter of his sixth book of the Mysteries of
the Mass : that is, as late as the latter end of the twelfth or
beginning of the thirteenth century. 1 may add that Durandus,
who lived to the latter end of the thirteenth century, speaks of no
other kiss but the kissing each other with the mouth, though he
expressly says, the men and women did not kiss promiscuously,
but the men kissed the men, and the women the women. * So
that this practice of kissing a little board, instead of kissing each
other with a kiss of peace, seems not to have been used in the
Church of Rome till about two hundred years before the Refor
mation. I confess, I do not approve of this ceremony in the place
the Romanists use it, it is certainly more proper before the
eucharistic service begins, and cannot so well be performed
afterwards, without giving a great interruption to the devotion of
the communicants. But as to the thing itself, I am of Mr.
Johnson's opinion, that it is one of those rites or modes which
are Apostolical, and which greatly deserves to be restored ; but
which does not seem necessary to the essence of the eucharist.
This rite was intended to express the mutual charity of the
communicants; and since it is authorized by the Apostles
themselves, I cannot but think that it ought to have been
retained; or if the kiss be not now thought consistent with that
gravity of mind which best suits so solemn an institution, in an

* Rationale Divin. Offic. lib. 4. cap. 53.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 393

age so much disposed to turn every thing into jest and raillery,
shaking of the hand or embracing (the men with the men, and
the women with the women only) might have been used instead
of it ; * I may add, if it was but bowing or courtesying to each
other. This is now indecently practised by too many in the
public Churches in the midst of Divine service. What would it
be for the governors of the Church to appoint such bowing or
courtesying of the communicants immediately as the priest is
gone up to the altar, and just before he begins the proper com
munion office after the sermon ? This would be saluting each
other, though not with a kiss, yet with a salute of charity or
peace, and might answer the end of the holy kiss much better
(as Mr. Johnson further says) than the kissing of a crucifix, or
some such instrument of superstition, which is now practised
in the room of the holy kiss in the 3L"lttU Church.

T must confess, I do not wonder at the Protestants for not
retaining that superstitious modern practice of the Church of
Rome of kissing an image : but I cannot but wonder, that those
who plead so zealously for obedience to "Scripture commands,
should yet disobey this command, which is so often repeated in
the New Testament, as not to use the holy kiss, the kiss of peace
and charity, upon any occasion whatsoever, nor yet any thing in
stead of it to denote their mutual faith, love, and charity to each
other. But to proceed with the Mass, after the kissing of the
pax, the priest makes two or three private prayers for himself,
which are very good and proper to the occasion ; but it would
certainly be more proper that these prayers should have been
made for the people too. But these prayers seem contrived as if
the Church of Rome was not concerned, whether the people
received the eucharist or not ; for if she had, she would have
ordered the priest to have used the plural not the singular num
ber in these prayers ; he would have been appointed to have said,
Deliver US, not ttt£ only, by this thy holy body and blood, from
all Uttt, not only mute iniquities, &c. And indeed the Missal
plainly allows the priest to receive the elements alone, if there
are none to communicate with him. This Cardinal Bona pre
tends to defend from the practice of the ancient Church.f But
he can prove this no otherwise than from some expressions of the

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part IT. pp. 172, 173.
f De Reb. Liturg. lib. 1. cap. 11. p. 198.
3 E

394 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

fathers blaming the negligence of the people in not coming duly
to this sacrament. Such a passage he quotes from St. Chrysostom
particularly : — In vain is the daily sacrifice, in vain do we
stand at the altar, there is no body that will receive. Does it
hence follow, that if there was no body at all but himself, that St.
Chrysostom received it alone ? Does St. Chrysostom say any
such thing ? He was a priest in a very populous city, that is
Antioch, and afterwards bishop of another more populous, Con
stantinople, where he had reason to expect a great number of
communicants. And when amongst such a multitude he saw but
two or three or half a dozen stay to receive the communion, he
might very well in his rhetorical way say, there was no body to
receive. Or supposing there was no one body, does he say that
then he received it himself? by no means. He only says, In
vain is the daily sacrifice, in vain do we stand at the altar ;
that is, in vain has the Church appointed this sacrifice to be
offered daily, in vain am I ready to administer it. But would
this have been in vain, if he had then received it himself, without
any to communicate with him ? If so, then it is in vain for a
priest of the Church of Rome to receive it alone without commu
nicants : and St. Chrysostom, who is brought to justify masses
without communicants, plainly condemns them as vanity. After
the priest has received the eucharist in both kinds distinct, then
he is to drink up the whole cup, together with the piece of bread
he had put into it ; and after that, if there be any communicants,
he is to distribute to them ; that is, he is to give them the body
or the bread only ; which is so directly contrary to our Saviour's
institution, who says expressly, Drink ye all of this, as nothing
can be more so ; and is also contrary to the universal practice of
the Church for 1100 years. For Cardinal Bona himself says,
that /row the first foundation of the Church to the twelfth cen
tury, always and in every place, the faithful communicated
under the species of bread and wine : in the beginning of that
century the use of the cup began by little and little to be laid
aside ; many bishops forbidding it to the people, by reason of
the danger there might be of irreverence or of shedding it, which
was inevitable when the multitude of the faithful was increased;
amongst which there would certainly be some less careful and
intent, and not so devout as they should be. This alteration
was at first made by divers bishops in their own Churches, and

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 395

then was established for all by a Canonical sanction in the >?
Council of Constans ;* that is, in the year 1414, about an hun
dred years before the Reformation. But was not the multitude
of the faithful as numerous before the twelfth century as after ?
The nations amongst whom this practice of detaining the cup
was introduced, were all converted to the Christian faith many
ages before the twelfth century ; so that this plea, if it be of any
weight, (as I think it is not) condemns all the preceding ages of
want of a due reverence to the sacrament : nay, which is infinitely
worse, it condemns Christ himself, as if he had not foreseen what
multitudes would come into his Church, and that he should
require all to drink of this cup, when it was not fit that all, or
indeed any but the officiating priest, should drink of it. This
is therefore a most scandalous practice, which the Romanists
have not been able to justify, neither can do. But I think I need
not spend time in refuting a practice which the Romanists them
selves acknowledge was so very lately introduced into their own
Church, and which by their own confession is contrary to the
practice of the universal Church above 1100 years. I have now
done with the Roman Canon, as far as concerns the prayers and
the distribution of the eucharist; and have, I trust, shewed, that
as it was certainly written later than any other Missal or Liturgy
here published, so it is less agreeable to the traditional Liturgy
derived from the Apostles than any of the rest, and at least as
corrupt and erroneous as any of them ; though such has been the
misfortune of the Church, that there is scarce one of them except
the Clementine that appears free from corruption. But tlien if
we examine the Rubrics also, which are of a much later date
than the prayers in this canon, we must say they are abominably .
superstitious and idolatrous. The multitude of crossings, the
several postures of the priest, sometimes extending his hands,
sometimes joining them together, looking first up, then down,
kissing the altar, kneeling down and rising up without apparent

* Semper & ubiq; ab Ecclesias primordiis usq; ucl sajculum I2mn sub specie
panis &, vini communicarunt lideles, caepitque paulatira ej us saeculi intro usus
calicis obsoleseere, plerisq; cpiseopis eum populo interdicentibus ob periculum
irreverentias &, cfl'usionis, quod inevitabile erat aucta fidelium multitudine, in
qua deesse non poterant minus cauti &, attcnti &, parum reJigiosi. Haee autem
mutatio facta est prinumi a divcrsis episcopis in suis Ecclcsiis, deindcin Synodo
Constanticnsi canonica sanctione pro omnibus stabilita. Bona dc Rcb. Litury.
lib. '2, cap. 18, p. 862, 8(33.

396 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

reason for it, taking the paten between his fore-finger and middle-
finger, signing himself with the paten, with other things expressly
enjoined by the Rubrics of pope Pius and the Council of Trent,
make the service appear perfectly theatrical, and are utterly un
becoming the gravity of so sacred an institution : and to enjoin
such rules and gestures, and make it faulty wilfully to omit any
of them, is superstitious. But then requiring the priest, as soon
as he has pronounced what they call the words of consecration,
to bow down and worship the host, and then to hold it up to the
people and oblige them to worship it also ; this, unless transub-
stantiation could be proved, has a strong appearance of idolatry,
and looks like paying that worship to a creature which is only
due to God, the Creator of all. These things made it necessary,
for those Churches on whom this Missal had been long imposed,
as soon as they became sensible of the manifold errors and cor
ruptions of it, to seek for proper means how they might have the
holy eucharist duly and regularly administered, free from cor
ruption and dangerous worship ; and accordingly they set about
it as soon as they found themselves in a capacity to effect it.
How this was done in other countries, I shall not now trouble
mvself to enquire ; but in this realm.

§ 41. In the second year of king Edward VI. A. D. 1548, a
committee of select bishops and divines was appointed to examine
and reform the offices of the Church, by order of, or at least at
the desire of, the convocation :* and the whole service or Com
mon Prayer Book was reformed by them, and soon after estab
lished by convocation and parliament.f And the parliament had
that high opinion of the Common Prayer Book thus drawn up,
that they declared it to be done by the aid of the Holy Ghost.
The communion office so drawn up and confirmed, (which makes
a part of that Common Prayer Book) is that here published, and
of which I am now to give an account. Now the Roman office
being the communion office that had hitherto been used in this
nation, they thought it not proper to deviate from that, further
than they judged absolutely necessary, or at least highly expedient.
And therefore, as bishop Burnet observes, They set one general

* Bishop Attcrburv's Rights, &c. of an English Convocation. 2nd edit,
pp. 197, 198.

f 2. 3. Ed. VI. cap. I.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 397

rule to themselves, (which they afterwards declared) of chang
ing nothing for novelty1 s-sake, or merely because it had been
formerly used : they resolved to retain such things as the
Primitive Church had practised, cutting off such abuse as the
latter ages had grafted on them ; and to continue the use of
such other things, which though they had been brought in not
so early, yet were of good use to beget devotion, and were so
much recommended to the people by the practice of them, that
the laying these aside would perhaps have alienated them from
the other changes they made.* First then, after the priest has
prepared the elements, and put them upon the paten and in the
cup, mixing the wine with a little pure and clean water, as is
ordered also in the Roman Missal, he begins with the usual
suffrages, The Lord be with you, Lift up your hearts, &c., he
proceeds in the eucharistic form as far as the conclusion of the
Seraphic hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, &c. So many also of the
proper prefaces for festival days are retained as was then thought
expedient. Then as the Roman Canon is a little confused in the
intercession or prayer for the state of Christ's Church, some part
of the intercession preceding, and some of it following the con
secration for the commemoration of the dead ; and the petition
for themselves that are there present in the Mass book follows the
oblation, though the prayer for the Church in general, and the
commemoration of the living, precedes it : here they are all put
together, as in the most ancient Liturgy, in the prayer for the
ivhole state of Christ's Church ; which is certainly a much more
proper and uniform order. In this intercession also is a petition
for the king, and all in authority under him, the want of which I
have shewed to be a great failure in the Roman Canon. This
intercession also, by leaving out the long roll of saints named in
the Canon, is thereby made a much fuller and better intercession
than that in the Canon, though it be the shorter of the two. In
the petition for God's blessing on the elements to make them the
body and blood of Christ, the Holy Spirit is expressly mentioned,
as in the ancient Liturgies. And after the words of institution,
is a most excellent form of oblation and thankful remembrance of
Christ's death, After which follows the Lord's Prayer. Then
instead of the suffrages in the Roman Canon, O Lamb of God,

* Hist, of Reformat. Vol. II. p. 6<J, 1th edit.

398 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

that lakest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us,
grant us thy peace ; a confession is made, that we believe Christ,
our Paschal Lamb, to be offered up for us once for all. Then
the priest invites those that are truly penitent to receive these
holy mysteries, and as a testimony of their repentance, to make
an humble confession of their sins ; which being done, he prays
that they may be absolved from them, agreeable to the prayer
which is used in almost all the Greek and Eastern Liturgies,
called the prayer at the bowing of the head. Then the priest
having recited some comfortable texts of the New Testament, to
raise in the hearts of the people a lively faith of God's mercies,
through Christ, humbly prays not for himself alone, as in the
Roman Canon ; but that he, and all there present, may receive
the benefit of those holy mysteries. Which confession, absolution,
and prayer of humble access, though more particular, is never
theless agreeable to the prayer ordered to be made by the bishop
or officiating priest in the Clementine Liturgy, immediately
before he says, Holy things are for holy persons, and so proceeds
to receive and administer the sacred elements, as the priest is
also appointed to do in this Liturgy as soon as he has concluded
this last prayer. Then as to the Rubrics or directions, they are
all grave and serious, and becoming the dignity of such an holy
mystery : the theatrical gestures are all removed, and the multitude
of crossings reduced to two only ; and the adoration of the host
entirely taken away. However this Liturgy, though thus reformed
with so much care and judgment, did not please the followers of
Calvin, who were even then too numerous in this realm, and
were also persons of very great power. These soon gave Calvin
an account of what had been done, and he quickly made many
exceptions to it. And to please him and his partizans here, it
was quickly brought under a review, and made more agreeable
to Calvin's liking. I know some will have it, that this alteration
was not made to please Calvin and his partizans ; but all our
historians say the contrary. Dr. Heylin particularly proves it by
unquestionable evidence ; saying thus to his adversary with whom
he disputes concerning the altar ; which word, though used in the
first Liturgy, was thrown out of the second Liturgy of Edward VI.
He says : — " Now for the alteration of the Liturgy, which did
indeed draw with it a full and final alteration in the thing now
talked of, you take great pains to make it visible unto the world

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 399

that Calvin had no finger in it. It had been happy for this
Church, if he and Beza could have kept themselves to their
meditations, and not been curiosi in aliena republica, as they
were too much."* Then he shews from Calvin's epistles, and
other clear testimonies which are indisputable, (as the curious
reader may be satisfied if he consults the book itself, being too
many to be here transcribed) -that "leaving the word altar out of
the Common Prayer Book last established, and Otftfr alterations
which were therein made, grew not from any scandal taken at
the altars by the country people, but a dislike that Calvin had
conceived against the Liturgy." f And thus, " The alteration of
king Edward's Liturgy proceeded rather from some motions from
without, than any great dislike at home : the king declaring in
his answer to the Devonshire men, that the Lord's Supper, as it
was then administered, was brought even to the very use as
Christ left it, as the Apostles used it, and as the holy fathers
delivered it. And in the act of parliament by which that book
was called in, it was affirmed to be agreeable to God's Word and
the Primitive Church." * So that we find both king and people
were satisfied with it, and had no fault to find with it, even when
they consented to alter it, and establish another in its stead :
which 1 shall also observe was done without consulting the con
vocation, as was done in the establishment of the first Liturgy.
And I am persuaded that it will not appear that the second
Liturgy, which is almost the same with that now used, ever
passed a convocation, or was established by any ecclesiastical
authority, till the restoration of king Charles II., so that for so
long time it stood upon pure regal and parliamentary authority.
However it has now the authority of convocation also. I will
therefore very briefly examine the material alterations made on
this occasion.

In the first place, the mixing water with the wine was laid
aside, though that appears to have been the practice of the
Universal Church from the Apostles' days to this Reformation.
Then the general intercession, though appointed to be said after
the bread and wine are placed on the table, yet seems to be
excluded from the proper communion service or Canon, which it
always made a part of, since the priest does not begin his exhor-

* Antidotum Lincolniense, p. 110. f Ibid. p. 120. § Ibid. p. 121.

400 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

talion to the people to prepare and examine themselves, whether
they are duly qualified to come to the altar, till after that prayer
is ended. Another alteration made in that prayer, is, that the
faithful departed are not only not prayed for there, but actually
excluded by the words the priest is required to say before he
begins it; Let us pray for the whole state of ChrisCs Church
J&tlitattt Jjm OU *arti). Which last words I believe never
were set before any prayer used in a Christian Church till that
time. Indeed, after the restoration of king Charles II. a thanks
giving was added with relation to the saints departed ; but the
words Militant here on earth were still left in the title of the
prayer, to shew that no words in that addition should be construed
to be a prayer in their behalf, as perhaps some of them might
otherwise have been. " Though," as Mr. Thorndike says, " there
is the same ground to believe the communion of saints in the
prayers, which those that depart in the highest favour of God
make for us, in the prayers which we make for those that depart
in the lowest degree of favour with God, that there is for the
common Christianity ; namely, the Scriptures, interpreted by the
perpetual practice of God's Church. Therefore there is ground
enough for the faith of all Christians, that those praters are
accepted which desire God to hear the saints for us, to send the
deceased in Christ rest and peace, light and refreshment, and a
good trial at the day of judgment, and accomplishment of happi
ness after the same. And seeing the abating of the first form
under Edward VI. hath wrought no effect, but to give them that
desire it an appetite to root out the whole ; what thanks can we
render to God for escaping so great a danger, but by sticking
firm to a rule that will stick firm to us, and carry us through any
dispute in religion, and land us in the heaven of a quiet con
science ; what troubles soever we may pass through, in main
taining, that the Reformation of the Church will never be
according to the rule which we ought to follow, till it cleave to
the Catholic Church of Christ in this particular."* This
quotation I borrowed from bishop Hickes, who made use of it to
justify the prayer for the saints departed in the intercession in the
communion office of the first Liturgy of Edward VI. which he
published in his Appendix to his third edition of his " Christian

* Weights and Measures, chap 22. p. 159.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 401

Priesthood:" and therefore plainly appears to be his opinion also.
But to return to the alterations made from this first Liturgy:
they have preposterously placed the confession, and absolution,
and prayer of humble access, before the consecration ; whereas
these prayers answering to the prayer called the prayer at the
bowing of the head in all the ancient Liturgies, ought, as it is
there, and in the first Liturgy of king Edward, to have been
placed after it. Then the confession which in that Liturgy
precedes the confession of sins, beginning Christ our Paschal
Lamb, fyc. though expressed in the very language of the holy
Scripture, is entirely left out. The additional clause to the
seraphic hymn, Hosannah in the highest, fyc. though taken also
from the Scripture, is cast out. Then in the prayer of consecra
tion itself, the petition that God with his Holy Spirit and Word
would vouchsafe to bless and sanctify the gifts, is also omitted,
which Mr. Bingham has proved,* and I trust I have also done
the same,f was believed to be essentially necessary to the
consecration ; so that without a prayer to that effect, I cannot
conceive the elements to be consecrated. But not content with
this, the Reformers of the first reformed Liturgy have also put
out the prayer of oblation and thankful remembrance of Christ's
death, which is certainly made an essential part of this sacrament
by the very words of institution, as recorded in Scripture, when
our Saviour says, Do or offer this in remimfettince Of me* And
the Church Catechism also teaches the communicants, that they
ought to have a thankful remembrance of Christ's death. But to
please Calvin, for I can see no other reason for it, they are not
permitted to express their thanks openly. And so much of this
prayer as the second Reformers thought expedient to retain, was
cast into the Post-communion Office, not to be used till after the
bread and wine were distributed and consumed ; that so there
might be nothing like the making an oblation of the gifts unto
God, which otherwise might have been implied in these words
wherein God is desired, of his fatherly goodness, mercifully to
accept this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

The learned bishop Hickes takes notice of this, and says, " In
the changes made in that office, the word altar, which had been
used in all ages of the Church before, even in the purest as well

* Supr. §. 27. f Supr. §. 18

3 F

402 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

as the most corrupt, was left out of the rubrics. And the prayer
of oblation, which had been ever used before the delivery of the
sacrament, in which we pray God mercifully to accept this our
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, was put into the Post-
communion after the Lord's Prayer, of which 1 read thus in
my interleaved Common Prayer Book : ' This prayer in king
Edward VI.'s Service Book was set before the delivery of the
sacrament to the people, and followed immediately after the
consecration, as certainly it was the better and more natural
order of the two. Neither do I know whether it were the printer's
negligence or no thus wrongfully to displace it. For the conse
cration of the sacrament being ever the first, it was always used
in all Liturgies to have the oblation follow, (which is this) and
then the participation which was before and after all the thanks
givings, which is here set next before (Slorta ttt 4£#Cll8t& In
regard whereof, I always observed my lord Overall, the reverend
bishop of Norwich, to use this oblation in its right place, when
he had consecrated the sacrament, to make an oblation of it (as
being the true and public sacrifice of the Church) unto God ;
that by the merits of Christ's death, which was now commemo
rated, all the Church of God might receive mercy, &c. as in this
prayer ; and when that was done, he did communicate the people,
and so end with the thanksgiving following hereafter. If men
would consider the nature of this sacrament, how it is the
Christian sacrifice also, they could not chuse but use it so too.
For as it stands here, it is out of its place.' "*

Thus have we the opinion of two very learned bishops of the
Church of England, bishop Overall and bishop Hickes, together
with that of a learned divine, who wrote this in the interleaved
Prayer-book concerning this alteration. And we may be satisfied
from the alterations made in the prayer itself, that it was not thus
misplaced through the negligence of the printer, as it seems to
be here questioned, whether it might not be so or not. But I
have before spoken concerning the necessity of the oblation, and
thankful remembrance of Christ's death, f and therefore need say
no more of it here. Another alteration then made was the cast
ing the Lord's Prayer also into the Post-communion, contrary to
the practice of all the Liturgies which have used that prayer in

* Prefatory Discourse in Answer to the Rights, &c. p. 63. 3rd edit.
f Supr. §. 14. 17.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 403

the Communion Office. What reason or pretence of reason those
who made these alterations had for this, I cannot pretend to guess.
Certain it is, that the petition, Give us this day our daily, or
substantial bread, as it is in St. Cyril, is much more proper to
be said before the bread and the cup are eaten and drank, than
after they are so consumed. Then at the distribution of the ele
ments, the old words, " The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting
life, and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for
thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life," wrere
changed for those words, " Take and eat this in remembrance
that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith
with thanksgiving," and " drink this in remembrance that Christ's
blood was shed for thee, and be thankful." By which those who
made these alterations, shewed that they were afraid the com
municants should believe the bread and wine to be in any sense
the body and blood of Christ. Though our Saviour, when he
instituted this sacrament, plainly called the bread his body, and
the cup his blood, and therefore had undoubtedly made them so
in some sense, though not by transubstantiation. But in the
first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the old words were restored
and set before the new form, and so both sentences have been
ever since used at the distribution of the sacrament in the Church
of England. Though the last of them is purely new, and was
never seen in any Liturgy till these second Reformers brought
it into this, when they made so many unaccountable and unjusti
fiable alterations in the Communion-office. These alterations
made at the instigation of Calvin, (who may be justly called the
Protestant Pope, being for a great while thought by some to be
as infallible as his holiness of Rome is by others) have been plainly
displeasing to several bishops and other eminent divines of the
Church of England, who though, for peace sake, they complied
with them, yet have occasionally shewn their dislike of them.
Bishop Overall, and the learned divine that speaks of his practice
in the administration of the eucharist, Dr. Heylin in his Antido-
tum Lincolniense, Mr. Thorndike in his Weights and Measures,
and bishop Hickes in his prefatory Epistle to the Rights, &c. and
his Christian Priesthood, as I have before observed, have plainly
shewed that they wished these alterations had not been made.
Archbishop Laud shewed his dislike of the laying aside the mix-

404 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

lure of water with the sacramental wine, by his restoring it in
his own practice when he was minister of All- Hallows, Barking,
where that custom of putting water into the cup has been conti
nued ever since. He also shewed that he could have wished the
petition, " Vouchsafe to bless and sanctify with thy Word and
Holy Spirit these thy gifts," and the Prayer of Oblation and
thankful remembrance of Christ's Death, had not been omitted,
since he restored both in the Liturgy provided for the Church of
Scotland, and that he approved not of the Lord's Prayer being
cast into the Post-communion, restoring that in the Scotch
Liturgy to the place it had in the first of King Edward's. Dr.
Grabe makes very honourable mention of this first Liturgy of
Edward VI. and of the Scotch Liturgy, and it is well known he
would receive the eucharist here by no other English form.* I
have not observed that Mr. Johnson says any thing of King Ed
ward's first Liturgy, or the alterations made in the second, but
he plainly shews, that he thinks the present form of the Church
of England is essentially defective in the Communion-office,
when he says, " That such priests and pious discerning laymen
as are convinced of the truth and necessity of the primitive sacri
fice, and do not think that the public provision for it is sufficient,
should supply such defects, as well as they can, by their own
private silent devotions."f And again, " In the mean time let
every pious, well instructed Christian pray with good King
Hezekiah, ' The good Lord grant atonement for every heart that
directs itself to seek the Lord God of their fathers, though not
according to the purity of the sacrament or holy institution.'"!
But what need can there be of supplying such defects, or of
making such a prayer, if the sacrament is purely and rightly
administered according to the holy institution in the Communion-
Office of the Church of England ?

§ 4*2. Now some persons who were convinced by bishop
Hickes's and Mr. Johnson's arguments, that there were essential
defects in the present Communion Service of the Church of Eng
land, but could not be of the mind to think that such defects in a
public Office of Communion could be effectually supplied by pri-

* Not. in Apol. Just. Mart. pag. 127.
f Prefatory Epistle to Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 22.

p. 119.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 405

vale devotions, thought it expedient to desire that either the first
Liturgy of King Edward VI. might be restored, or at least such
prayers and directions as were believed by them to be essentially
necessary to the due celebration of the eucharist. For my own
part, as I was fully convinced of some of these defects before I
left the public communion, I did endeavour to supply them the
best I could without making a public declaration of my opinion.
I left out the words, Militant here on earth, and said only, Let
us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church : conceiving that
if those words were omitted, the petition, <TJ)<lt foHtfy tf)£ltt we
may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom, might fairly be
interpreted as a prayer for the saints departed, that fyev as well
as b)£ might have a joyful resurrection, and be made together
partakers of everlasting happiness. And immediately after the
words of institution, before I administered or received the elements,
I privately said the prayer of oblation and invocation, very near
the same as it is in the Clementine Liturgy. Or if I received
where any other priest administered, as soon as he had said the
words of institution, I privately used that prayer. When I had
quitted the public communion, and joined myself to the coni-
mimion of bishop Hickes, though I had not any particular
directions from him, (he being so afflicted with stone and gravel
when he received rne to communion, which was the last time I
saw him, that I had not opportunity to ask what he would direct
on this occasion) yet from what I had formerly heard him say in
conversation, and from what he had published in print, I con
ceived I might very reasonably conclude that I had his authority,
or at least his leave, to do those things which he had so much
recommended in his public writings. I from that time, when I
did administer the eucharist, always mixed water with the wine ;
I left out the words, Militant on earth, and I said the prayer of
oblation and invocation aloud. Other persons, who were sensible
of these defects in the established communion office, endeavoured
to supply them in such manner as they thought most expedient,
some one way, some another, which broke our uniformity. This
being observed by some amongst us, some months after the death
of bishop Hickes, they thought it adviseable to lay the case before
their superiors, and to desire their directions in these points, that
the uniformity might not be broken. Hereupon the bishops and
several presbyters met to consult what was to be done in this mat-

406 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

ter ; but the major part declared, that as there was a Liturgy
established, the way to preserve uniformity was to stick close to
that, and they had no authority to recede one tittle from it. That
as to the matters proposed concerning Mixing water with the
sacramental wine, praying for the faithful departed, making an
oblation of the elements, and invocating the descent of the Holy
Ghost to sanctify and bless the cup, some said they were indeed
desideranda ; however it was not seasonable to introduce them
at this time, and others seemed not to approve of them at any
time. But as there were some there of both orders who thought
these things to be essentially necessary to the eucharist, they very
much pressed, that as there was an English Liturgy made in the
second and third years of Edward VI. which contained all that was
now desired, the Communion might be administered amongst us
according to that office ; or at least that some of the prayers and
directions in that Communion Office might be added to the present
office. But the majority still insisted that they were obliged to
adhere to the present Liturgy, and could make no alterations in
it. Those therefore who believed and were firmly persuaded that
these were necessary points, and that what was proposed teas
an essential part of religion, thought that in this case no fear
of its consequences might dissuade from or justify the refusal of
it ; but that each one must faithfully discharge his duty, and
leave the event to God's all-wise Providence, which overrules
all things, and can easily make them work together for good to
them who love him.* And finding that their brethren would by
no means join with them to make these alterations, they saw a
separation was unavoidable. For how could they continue in
communion with those from whom they could not receive the
communion unmaimed ? And they could not receive the commu
nion from them, unless they would receive it without the mix
ture ; ivithout prayer for the saints departed, without an
oblation, and without an invocation for a blessing on the ele
ments, when they believed those things to be essential to the
Christian sacrifice. However, that they might, if possible, pre
vent such an unhappy schism, they made these proposals for
preventing a separation: " 1. That water be constantly mixed
with the wine. 2. That the words militant here on earth be

* No Reason, &c. p, 80, 81.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 407

always omitted. 3. That the petition in the prayer of consecra
tion be always, Hear us, O merciful Father, we most humbly
beseech thee ; iSICSS these thy creatures of bread and wine ;
and grant that we 8$c. 4. That the prayer of oblation, as it is
worded in the present Liturgy, be used immediately after the
words of institution, before communicating. Farther, notwith
standing our persuasion, that none of these primitive usages can
be dispensed with, yet we don't insist upon their being received
by our brethren as necessary things ; provided they officiate by
them, they may, if they please, declare their practice means no
more than temporary concessions and expedients for union
These are the utmost lengths for an accommodation we can offer?
and which we earnestly desire may be received."*

However our brethren thought it not proper to comply with
these proposals, whereby the schism became unavoidable. Which
I hope God was pleased to permit, that he may bring good out of
this evil; that this controversy being publicly controverted in
print, not the Non-jurors only, (who are now reduced to a very
inconsiderable number) but those also who are of the public com
munion of the Church of England, might see themselves concerned
in it. And that if these things are necessary, as two of the most
learned of their own presbyters, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bingham,
have proved them to be, they have just reason to question whether
the Holy Eucharist be administered amongst them " in such wise
as our Lord and Saviour did, and commanded to be done, as his
Holy Apostles used it, and the good fathers in the Primitive
Church frequented it:" which the Church of England says?
we must be sure of especially.-^ And that by finding what great
defects there are in the present Communion Office, they may be
induced, as soon as God affords them the means for it, (wrhich I
trust in his own good time he will do) to make it more perfect
and exactly agreeable to the primitive standard.

It is well known, that immediately after the Revolution, there
appeared a great zeal in many of the highest governors both in
Church and State to make several alterations in the Liturgy, in
order to bring the Dissenters into the communion of the Church
of England : I will by no means deny this to have been a very
laudable design ; for as archbishop Wake has judiciously said on

* Vindication of the Reasons and Defence, Part II. p. 90.
f First part of the Homily concerning the Sacrament.

408 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

this occasion, " I hope it will not be thought any crime for the
bishops and clergy of the Church to be willing to enlarge its
communion, by any methods which may be likely to gain others,
and yet not injure their own Establishment."* And sure it will
not be more for the honour of the Church of England, or more
her interest and advantage, to bring a few Protestant Dissenters
into her communion, than to bring the Apostolical and Primitive
Catholic Church into it: or more fully and firmly to unite herself
to that, by restoring those doctrines and usages which are
apparently Primitive and Apostolical, which she has now laid
aside. This will be the most likely means to enlarge the com
munion of the Church of England, when she can convince her
adversaries, that her doctrine and worship are in all respects truly
Primitive and Apostolical : when she can shew them that she has
retained or restored whatever she finds to have been universally
practised in the first three centuries, to the time of the Council
of Nice : when she can fully answer that objection the Dissenters
have made against her pleading a conformity with the Primitive
Church, who say that plea is vain, when it is manifest that we
have left off praying for departed saints, the unction of the
sick, the mixing water with the sacramental wine, the chrism,
crossing the breast at the consecration of the eucharist, and the
baptismal water, with many other tilings which were retained
in the ancient Church, and in the Liturgy of Edward F/.f
Therefore by restoring these and other ancient practices, we may
be more likely to gain even these Dissenters, who if they saw the
doctrine and worship of the Church of England to be really as
primitive as it is pretended to be, could not charge her with
deviating from the Primitive Church, whilst she pretends to
adhere to it : or at least if they should, she would be able to
make them a better answer than she can do now : nay, such an
answer as must be prevalent with those amongst them that are
men of understanding and sincerity. For all men must see and
be sensible that the age of the Apostles, and that of their immediate
successors, who were sent by the Apostles, particularly directed
by the Holy Ghost, were certainly the best and purest ages of
the Church, and a pattern or standard for all that should succeed

* See Bishop of Lincoln's Speech at Dr. Sacheverel's Trial, printed for John
Morphew, 1710, p. 4.

f De Laune's Plea for the Non- Conformists.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 409

them. And therefore a Church reformed according to that
standard, has a great advantage above all others to enlarge its
communion. Therefore if the Church of England was really so
reformed, it would exceedingly tend to gain her proselytes. But
now, when any of her Divines pretend to say that she is reformed
in all things agreeable to the most pure and primitive Church,
her adversaries of all sorts can bring testimonies from Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, Cyprian, &c. most eminent and orthodox
fathers of the first three centuries, to shew that she is not so.
There seems at this time to be a general inclination and disposi
tion in the Divines of the Church of England to enquire into the
antiquities of the Christian Church, more than I am persuaded
has been at any time since the Reformation : which I hope will
induce them to desire to see this Church brought yet nearer to
the primitive standard. And though there are but few of us,
very few, who have yet endeavoured to make such a primitive
reformation; I hope nevertheless there are many, very many,
who would be glad to see a reformation of this kind established.
For even those nonjurors who have thought expedient to condemn
what we have done as irregular and unjustifiable, because they
conceive we wanted a justifiable authority for the doing it, yet
have shewn their approbation of the things themselves, and their
desire to have them restored : the author of " No Necessity to
alter the Common Prayer," beginning his treatise with these
words, Sir, what you propose as terms of communion., I freely
own are desideranda, and should be heartily glad to have them,
and many other valuable usage*, in a regular way. Only he
dislikes our making a separation on this account, and says that
we wanted a competent authority to introduce the use of them.
The things themselves then are approved by him, and I trust bv
all that have a regard to the doctrines and usages of the primitive
Church. But the fault is, that we have thought it necessary to
introduce these ancient doctrines and usages into present practice,
when he thinks we were not at liberty to do it, being before tied
down to the strict use of a Liturgy established by the greatest
authority of this realm, civil and ecclesiastical. Now in answer
to this, and to justify what we have done on this occasion, I shall
produce the directions given by the learned and judicious Dr.
Hammond in his "Practical Catechism" which I think we have
followed. " S. But what if the particular Church wherein I
3 G

410 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

was baptized shall fall from its own stedfastness, and by
authority, or law, set up that, which if it be not contrary to
plain words of Scripture, is yet COntrarg tO tf)C fcOCtrinc or
practice of the Universal Church of the first and purest times ;
what will meekness require me to do in that case ? C. Meek
ness will require me to be very wary in passing such judgment
on that Church ; but if the light be so clear, and the defection be
so palpably clear and discernible to all, that I cannot but see
and acknowledge it, and in case it be true that I am actually
convinced that the particular Church wherein I live is departed
from the Catholic Apostolic Church; then it being certain that
the greater authority must be preferred before the lesser, and that
next the Scripture the Catholic Church of the first and purest
times, (especially when the subsequent ages do also accord with
that for many hundreds of years) is the greatest authority ; it

follows that tnccfcncss requires tug ofcc&icnce ana mtfemtesion
to tijc Catfjolic &j)oatolic Cfntrd), anfc not to tfjc particular

tofjcrcin $ libc: so far, I mean, as that I am to retain that
Catholic Apostolic, and not this novel, corrupt, not Catholic
doctrine. And if for my doing so I fall under persecution of the
rulers of that particular Church, meekness then requires me
patiently to endure it, fcttt in no CaSC tO gttfrSCri&C tO, Or act

ang tiling: tofjici) ia contrary to tin's Catholic fcoctrinc, S.

But what if I may not be permitted to live in that particular
Church without this submission, or such acting ; what doth the
doctrine of meekness then advise ? C. If the meaning of your
words (may not be permitted to live} be, that they will put me
to death, then meekness saith, I must meekly bear the loss of
life itself, and so follow Christ. Or if the meaning be, that they
will banish me out of the kingdom, I must venture my cause
with God, and meekly submit to that punishment also, and
depend on God's providence for my preservation in some other.
Or if the meaning be, that they will divest me of my possessions,
mulct or otherwise punish me, the answer is still clear, because
all these are less than one loss of life is supposed to be. S. But
what if they should excommunicate me ? has the doctrine of
meekness any salvo for me then, or any thing which it requires
of me ? C. Yes : meekly to lie under the censure, supposing
that I am not excommunicated from the Catholic Apostolic
Church of Christ by any such censure, but rather so much the

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 411

more firmly united to it by this means. Nor am I obliged in this
case to seek out some other particular Church, which will receive
me into their communion, out of which this has ejected me; but
to submit to that lot contentedly, which God permits to befal me
in the discharge of a good conscience. And in this case, as long
as I continue constant to the doctrine of the Catholic Church,
and maintain the inward communion, (that of charity) with all
the true Churches of God, wheresoever they are, and with all
particular Churches, (even with this that has excommunicated
me) so far as to embrace them with the arms of Christian charity,
to join even with erroneous Churches, so far as they are not
erroneous, i. e. to embrace all Catholic truth wheresoever it is,
separating only from the corruptions of it, (and that too only
because they will not permit me externally to join with them in
the Catholic truths and communion, unless 1 will profess to join
in their corruptions also) in this case, I say, it is no fault of mine,
if it should so happen that I live in no external public communion
at all. The true Christian thus patiently abiding the good
pleasure of God, ceaseth not to be such, by being cast upon a
desart or other equal hermitage in the midst of men and Chris
tians. Though after all this, if there be any purer Church that
will receive me, or if any Church equally corrupt will yet give
me liberty to join with them in the public service of God, without
complying or joining with them (or seeming and appearing to the
scandal of others so to do) in their corruption, I doubt not but it
is lawful for me to associate with them, unless my particular
calling or condition be such, as that (by some accident) some sin
be consequent to my doing thus, as the forsaking those I am
bound to cleave to, and the like. S. But what if this particular
erroneous Church, of which I am, do not excommunicate or
exclude me from her communion, what doth meekness then
prescribe in respect of that communion ? C. To communicate
with her in all but her corruptions. My meaning is this, some
other obligations there are upon every Christian (wherein meek
ness interposeth not) which do require me not to depart from any
Catholic Apostolic truth or practice, at least not to submit to (or
act) the contrary, or to do any thing which is apt to confirm
others in so doing, or lead those that doubt (by my example) to
do what they doubt to be unlawful. For in all these particulars,
the Christian law of scandal obliges me not only not to yield to

41-2 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

any schism from the Catholic Apostolic Church, or other the like
corruption, hut not to do those things hy which I shall be thought
by prudent men to do so. And therefore thus far I must abstain.
But this caution being given and observed, meekness then
requires me, as far as I may without breach of these obligations,
to communicate with that particular Church as long as I live in
her arms; but permits me also to SCCfc OUt for Some purer
<£ljurci), if that may conveniently be had for me. $,&£, if E am

bg ma? calling ftttefc for it, anfl can pru&entli) tyope to plant
(or contribute to tf>e planting) sucty a pure Apostolic <£i>urcf>
toftere tijere is none, or to reconcile anU restore peace bettocen
BrtriBeB members of tfje <£iwrtf) CDatfjolir, mij cn&eabottr to
Bo so is in tins case extremely tommen&ablc, an& ttyat tofitrff
Soft's pcotoiUence seems to Uirert me to bg tofjat is tfw&
befallen me/' *

Now by what the catechist here says to his scholar, we may
see that it was this learned person's opinion, and which he backs
with very good arguments, that if the Church in which we have
been baptized deviates from the Catholic and Apostolic Church,
we are hound at all hazards to stick to the Catholic Apostolic
Church, and not to that particular Church, although the points
wherein that particular Church differs from the Catholic, are not
contrary to plain words of Scripture : and that he had very good
reason to teach such doctrine ; for the Church which Christ
founded was the Catholic Apostolic Church, and all other
Churches are united to Christ no otherwise than as they are
united to that Church which he and his Apostles established ;
therefore it is every one's duty to keep united to that Church :
consequently if the particular Church wherein I live has departed
from the union of the Catholic Apostolic Church in the first and
purest times, as soon as I become sensible of this, 1 am obliged
to quit that particular Church, that by adhering to it in these
corruptions, I may not separate from the Universal Church in the
best and purest times. But then the learned Doctor seems to say,
that I am still to join in the public service of that erroneous
Church where I live, if she will permit me to do it without joining
in her corruptions. I say he seem* to say so, for he puts in so
many limitations and restrictions in the case, as makes it almost

* Lib. 2, §. 1. p. 31. as printed in the first volume of the Doctor's Work.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 413

impossible for a man to know whether he may join with such a
Church or not ; and this he allows on no other terms than if there
be no purer Church with which I may join. Therefore, if there
be a purer Church with which I may join, the Doctor plainly
says I may seek for it, and puts me no longer under any obligation
of joining with the erroneous Church on any occasion. Nay,
says he, if I am by my calling fitted for it, and can prudently
hope to plant (or contribute to the planting} such a pure
Apostolic Church, where there is none, that is, where there is no
pure Apostolic Church, my endeavour to do so, is in this case
extremely commendable. Now this we conceive to have been
our case. We found the Church of England had by authority
and law set up that ; which, if it be not contrary to plain
words of Scripture, is yet contrary to the doctrine or practice
of the Universal Church in the first and purest times, and the
defection so palpably discernible to all, that we could not but
see and acknowledge it. It was evident that she had by autho
rity and law set up an office for the ministration of the holy
communion, without appointing any mixture of water with the
sacramental wine : this, if not contrary to plain words of Scrip
ture, we found contrary to the practice of the Universal Church
in the first and purest times, as appears from the testimonies of
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and St. Cyprian.
But a learned gentleman has been pleased to except against
these testimonies as insufficient : for which he gives the following
reasons : — First, Because these evidences are only produced in
behalf of the mixture, but not examined, and so their testimony
signifies nothing.* But what he means by examined, I do not
understand : the testimonies are plain, clear, and positive. Justin
Martyr, as the very reverend and learned Mr. Spinckes observes,
calls the consecrated elements fot*a&, atttf tout*, autt toatrr.
over which thanks are given, f What examination does such
evidence as this require ? And the testimonies of the other three
are as plain. But he adds : — Nor do they indeed bear the tes
timony desired of them, and for the which only they are
produced ; they have nothing at all to say for the first age,
and nothing sufficient for those that follow. But has St. Cyprian
particularly nothing at all to say for the first age ? when he says,

* No Just Grounds, &c , p. 64.
f Article of Romish Transubstantiation, &c., p. 71.

414 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

Our Lord, by the authority of his own example, taught that
the cup was to be mingled with wine and water. Secondly,
says he, because they are so thinly sown ; but four in all the
world for above three hundred years. This is much loo few;
and pray whoever thought or can think it is a sufficient num
ber ?* In answer to which it may be proper to observe what
this gentleman says a little before, where we may see that there
has been an answer made to it, which he makes a very insufficient
reply to, and then renews the objection here. This learned
objector had said, that during the first three hundred years,
there are only four witnesses produced for the mixed cup ; one
in Palestine, one in France, another in Egypt, and another at
Carthage. In answer to which it was said : — And is not this
sufficient ? To produce a testimony from every part of the
then known world, from Asia, Europe, and Africa, every one
of them declaring the mixed cup to be the institution of Christ,
is certainly such a proof of this practice, as cannot be shewn
for the present Canon of Scripture. To which this learned
gentleman replies: — What benefit this author propounds to
himself, by undervaluing our evidence for the Canon of Scrip
ture, I know not ; but I wish he would well consider it with
himself. But I must needs say, it is this learned gentleman,
not that author, who undervalues the Canon of Scripture. For
that author thinks four witnesses in about three hundred years a
very sufficient evidence ; such an evidence, that if there had
been but half the number, ought not to have been rejected : and
says, so many witnesses during that time cannot be produced for
the Canon of Scripture. But does he therefore say that there is
not sufficient evidence for the Canon of Scripture? I dare
engage for him he never had such a thought. All Christians are
agreed that the Canon of Scripture is sufficiently proved, though
there are not four evidences of it during above three hundred
years, and yet this learned gentleman says, Who ever thought or
can think this a sufficient number ? Therefore if he cannot
produce (as I am sure he cannot) more than four witnesses for the
Canon of Scripture, as express as we have for the mixture, for
above three hundred years, according to him no man can think
this a sufficient number, and so wre are like to lose the Canon of

* Dominus Calicem docuerit exemplo Magisterii sui vini & aquas conjunc-
tione inisceri. Cypr. ad Cacil Epist. Ixiii.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 415

Scripture, if no man will be satisfied with less evidence than this
gentleman requires. In a word, who is it that undervalues our
evidence for the Canon of Scripture, he that allows it to be suffi
cient, as that author does, or he that says such evidence, nay
more in number, is not a sufficient number, as this gentleman
does ? I wish he would well consider it with himself. But now
comes the demonstration, that this is by no means sufficient to
prove the mixture an universal practice. For he says, " Give
me leave to argue in the same manner for withholding the cup in
the eucharist. It is plain this is done at Lyons; and suppose
there could be found an evidence for it in the East Indies, and
another in Guinea, here would be as certain evidence as for that
of the mixture in the same three parts of the world. Yet of what
validity this would be, if you please we will try in Europe. Will
this usage at Lyons prove the holy eucharist to be celebrated in
one kind only amongst the Greeks in the Turkish part of Europe?
Will it prove it to be so throughout all the vast territories of the
Czar, or in the European Tartary ? Will it prove it to be so
through the dominions of the king of Prussia, or in Sweden or
Denmark ? Nay, will it prove it to be so in the Churches of
England, Scotland, and Ireland, or any one of them ? So far
from this, that a great part of us can remember when it would
not have proved it so much as for France. So poor and incon
clusive an argument is this. — What opinion must one have of the
understandings of mankind, before he can imagine they will be
put upon with such trash as this ? " And I must say, I cannot
think what opinion he must have of our understandings, to hope
to impose upon them with such trash as he has here given us.
How does he know, that the cup in the eucharist is withheld in
the Church of Lyons, but only as it is withheld in all Churches
of that communion ? Has he ever seen the communion adminis
tered in the Church of Lyons ? Or has he particularly examined
the practice of that Church ? It is possible he may ; but if he
has not, he may conclude it, because it is a Church in commu
nion with the Church of Rome, which does so withhold the cup,
and therefore a man that knows nothing of the Church of Lyons
but that it is of that communion, may know this to be practised
there. And we know the cup is so withheld in all Churches of
that communion, whether they be in the East Indies, or in Gui
nea, in Greece or Muscovy, in Sweden or Denmark, nay in

416 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

England, Scotland, and Ireland. But we know that the contrary
is practised in other Churches in all these places, that is, by those
that are of a different communion from the Church of Rome or of
Lyons. And did ever any of us say that the testimony of Justin
Martyr, or of Irenaeus, or of Clemens Alexandrinus, or of St.
Cyprian, for the mixture, was an evidence that those Christians
who were not of their communion, though they might dwell in
the same cities with them, did mix the cup ? We think it suffi
cient proof of the practice of all that were of their communion,
which I hope this learned gentleman will allow to have been the
truly Catholic and Apostolic Church : and we are not at all con
cerned at what might be done by those who were not of that
communion. If this gentleman can discover any amongst those
that were not of their communion who did not mix the cup, but
administered with wine only, we shall not be uneasy at the dis
covery. If he is disposed to chuse a communion different from
that of these ancient fathers, he must do as he thinks fit, for our
parts we are resolved to adhere to the communion of that Church
in which these fathers lived and died: and we conceive their
evidence is a good evidence, that the mixture was the practice of
the whole Catholic and Apostolic Church in the ages wherein
they lived, even as the practice of the Church of Lyons, in with
holding the cup in the eucharist, is an evidence that the cup is
so withheld in all Churches in the world, which are of the same
communion. I thought it proper to answer this objection par
ticularly, because, weak as it is, yet being urged as a demonstra
tion, it might impose upon some who might not readily see where
the fallacy lies. For we do not urge the testimony of the fathers
as an evidence of the practice of all sects of Christians, but only
as an evidence of the practice of that Church wherewith they
held communion, that is, the Catholic and Apostolic Church.
But he urges, the practice of the Church of Lyons is no evidence
of the practice of other Churches, which hold no communion with
it, which is nothing at all to the purpose ; whereas he ought to
have proved it, that the practice of the Church of Lyons was no
proof of the practice of all other Churches of that communion ;
but that was what he could not do, the contrary being so manifest
in that particular point he puts down for an example, the with
holding the cup in the eucharist. For he says, It is plain this
is done at Lyons. But how is this plain or known to every

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 417

body ? Only it is plain that all who are of the Roman commu
nion, wheresoever they are, whether at Lyons, or in any other
place, do so withhold the cup. Therefore where we have the
clear evidence of the doctrine or practice of any one Church in
any material point which they maintain as necessary, as St.
Cyprian plainly teaches the mixture to have been, we may safely
conclude it to have been the doctrine of the Universal Church.
And if this be not allowed as a sufficient evidence, there can be
no evidence for the Canon of Scripture, or for any one practice of
the Christian Church, for the first three centuries. For consider
ing what a small number of authors of those ages have been
transmitted to us, if this learned gentleman will not allow the
testimony of one, two, three, or four of those, especially when
this is corroborated by the subsequent evidence of general Coun
cils, and the Liturgies of all Churches, as it is in these contro
verted points, it is impossible to prove the practice of the Church
in any one point not expressly commanded in Scripture. Nay,
it is impossible to prove the Scriptures we have to be Scripture.
We cannot prove the gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, or St.
Luke, to have been written by those Evangelists, or the epistle to
the Hebrews to have been written by St. Paul, or that those
books wrhich now make up the Canon of the New Testament, are
all of them written by Divine inspiration, or that those only were
so written, and no other are of equal authority with them. So
that those who maintain that this is not sufficient evidence
undervalue our evidence for the Canon of Scripture, and not
those who maintain this evidence to be sufficient. And we have
no less evidence for every one of the controverted points. As
therefore such evidence is thought sufficient to establish the
Canon of Scripture, the observation of the Lord's day, and the
baptism of infants, so having at least equal evidence for the
mixture, prayer for the dead, the oblation and the invocation, we
cannot but think we have sufficient evidence for these practices.
And it shews our adversaries to be strangely prejudiced, when
they will not allow that to be a good evidence in these points,
which they allow to be so in matters of the same nature, that is,
in matters which are to be proved by historical evidence only.
And the Liturgies here published are good corroborating evidence
of the universality of them. For there is no one of all these
Liturgies, one or other of wrhich is or has been used in all the
3 ii

418 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

several Churches of Christendom, which has not prescribed the
use of mixing water with the sacramental wine, of praying for
the faithful departed, of offering the sacred elements after the
recital of the words of institution, as the memorial of Christ's
death, and which does not invocate the descent of the Holy
Ghost, to make them the body and blood of Christ. Only the
Roman Canon has not a direct invocation for the descent of the
Holy Ghost ; however there is a petition that fairly implies it,
where God is desired to make this oblation blessed, firm, estab
lished, reasonable and acceptable, that it may be to us the body
and blood of Christ. But as the Roman Missal is perfectly
singular in this particular in leaving out the express mention of
the Holy Ghost, and in placing this petition before the words of
institution, and the prayer of oblation, its authority is of little
weight, especially as it is plainly more modern than any of the
other Liturgies, and also so contrary to the evidence of the most
ancient fathers, who so frequently mention this invocation of the
Holy Ghost. And the dissent of one Church, if the Canon
could be proved apparently dissentient, where it is so apparently
modern in comparison of the rest, is of no force to invalidate an
ancient universal practice. And as all these Liturgies agree in
these four points, so we find a disagreement betwixt them in all
those matters which I have shewed to be corruptions. Thus
though incense came to be almost an universal practice, yet
where or when to use it, was never agreed upon, and it is used
in the Anaphora or Canon Missce in very few of these Liturgies.
So also prayers to saints, and the extravagant praises given to
the Virgin Mary, the dipping a piece of the bread into the cup,
the giving the eucharistic bread and wine together in a spoon,
are not in every one of these Liturgies, some have omitted one,
and some another ; as likewise the giving the laity no wine at all,
is peculiar to the Roman Missal. So that in all those matters
which can be called corruptions, there is a variety amongst the
Liturgies; but in the controverted points, there is a perfect
harmony and agreement. And being so, we cannot doubt of
their being derived from apostolical tradition. For as the most
reverend and learned archbishop Wake, speaking of the Liturgies
which go under the names of St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. James,
which he observes were the ancient Liturgies of the three patri
archal Churches, the Roman, the Alexandrian, and Jerusalem

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 419

Churches, first founded or at least governed by those first preach
ers of Christianity, says in his Dissertation to his Translation of
the " Apostolical Fathers," that " since it can hardly be doubted
but that those holy Apostles and Evangelists did give some
directions for the administration of the blessed eucharist in those
Churches, it may reasonably be presumed, that some of those
orders are still remaining in those Liturgies which have been
brought down to us under their names ; and that those prayers
wherein they all agree (in sense at least, if not in words) were
first prescribed in the same or like terms by those Apostles and
Evangelists ; nor would it be difficult to make a further proof of
this conjecture from the writings of the ancient fathers, if it were
needful in this place to insist upon it." Now I trust that in
this discourse the proof has been made from the writings of the
ancient fathers, and is also corroborated by the evidence of many
other ancient Liturgies, beside these he had occasion to take
notice of. And we find a perfect harmony between them in the
controverted points ; so that there can be no doubt but that these
things are derived from apostolical tradition. Here are not only
the Liturgies which go under the names of the Apostles and
Evangelists, spoken of by archbishop Wake, and used in three
great patriarchal Churches, but here are also the Liturgies used
in all other Churches we have an account of, or at least fragments
sufficient to discover their practice in these matters; nay here
are the Liturgies used by some of the ancient heretics, and
compiled by them, as the Liturgies of Nestorius and Severus,
who were heads of parties that left the Catholic communion as
early as the fifth century, and yet they agree with the Catholic
Liturgies in these things; which they would not have done, if
these had not been used by the Church before those separations:
for afterwards those that condemned each other as heretics,
would not borrow any thing the one from the other. Now such
an universal harmony in a matter never settled by any general
Council, or any other means by which Christians from all parts
of the world might consult together about them, could never
happen by chance, or have any other original than that these
things were taught and ordered to be practised by the Apostles,
and their successors, who were the first founders of Churches in
all parts of the world. And as Dr. Hammond says, " Apostolical
traditions, such as are truly so, as well as apostolical writing*,

420 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

are equally the matter of that Christian's belief, who is equally
secured by foe fidelity of the conveyance ; that as one is aposto
lical writing, so the other is apostolical tradition"*

Now we have certainly equal evidence, and I trust I have
proved it to be so, that these controverted points are apostolical
tradition, as we have to prove that the Scriptures of the New
Testament, as now received amongst us, are apostolical writings.
For we have the testimony of all times and all places where we
can find a Christian Church, at least as full as we have their
testimony, that such a book was written by the Apostle or
Evangelist whose name it bears. And if this be not sufficient
testimony, it is at least equal testimony ; and I hope those who
maintain that this is not sufficient evidence, will either shew
better evidence for the apostolical writings, or forbear for the
future to charge this evidence with insufficiency, otherwise the
undervaluing the evidence we have for the Canon of Scripture
must lie at their door. For considering the distance we live at
from Christ and his Apostles in respect of time, this historical or
traditional evidence is as good as the nature of the thing is
capable of. Finding therefore that the Church of England had
so apparently departed from these apostolical traditions, of which
we have as good evidence as we have of the apostolical writings,
and that her form appointed for ministering the holy communion,
if it be not contrary to plain words of Scripture, is yet contrary
to the doctrine or practice of the Universal Church of tfte first
and purest times, with which the subsequent ages do also accord
for many hundred years ; and these defects being so palpably
discernible that we could not but see and acknowledge it, and
being by our calling fitted so as we might prudently hope to
plant (or contribute to the planting) a purer and more Apos
tolic Church, according to Dr. Hammond's rule and direction,
we thought it commendable so to do. Having then bishops,
priests, and deacons, and a flock also, though a very little one
with us, we could not but conceive we made a Church according
to St. Cyprian's definition of it, A people united to their priest,
and a flock adhering to their pastor, a bishop in the Church,
and the Church in the bishop.^ And conceived, that by restoring

* Of Heresy, Sect. 3. first volume of his Works, p. 545.

f Illi sunt Ecclesia Plebs Sacerdoti adnnata, & pastori suo grex adhjerens :
unde scire debes Episcopum in Eeclesia esse, & Ecclesiam in Episcopo. Cy.
prian. Epist. Ixvi. ad Florcntium.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 421

these primitive usages, we should also answer the definition of
the Church of England, which says, The visible Church of
Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure
Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered
according to Chrisfs ordinance, in all those things that are of
necessity requisite to the same.* And in so doing we have
followed the doctrine taught by many eminent divines of the
Church of England, as Dr. Hammond, Mr. Thorndike, bishop
Hickes, archbishop Wake, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bingham, and
others ; and what is more than all these, the doctrine of the
Church of England itself, that before all other things, this we
must be sure of especially, that this supper be in such wise done
and ministered as our Lord and Saviour did, and commanded
to be done, as the holy Apostles used it, and the good fathers in
the Primitive Church frequented zV.f If it be said, as I think
it has been, that these very learned and eminent bishops and
divines, whatever they may have said to our purpose, yet have
continued, and such of them as are living do still continue, to
minister and receive this sacrament according to that form, which
we say is erroneous, and not agreeable to the practice of the
Universal Church ; and the Church of England, whatever doc
trine she teaches, has also prescribed that form, and ordered that
no other shall be used : we answer, that our Saviour has taught
us, that when bishops and divines teach what themselves do not
practice, and the same may be said with regard to any particular
Church also, we are to have regard to the doctrine, and not the
practice. For he says expressly, The Scribes and Pharisees
(that is, the rulers of the Church of God which then was) sit in
Moses* seat. All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe,
that observe and do ; but do not ye after their works, for they
say and do not.% Wherefore finding the practice of the Church
of England to be so plainly different from her doctrine, we
thought it our duty, in obedience to our Saviour's command, to
relinquish the practice, to observe the doctrine, and therefore
composed the communion office here published after the first
Liturgy of king Edward VI. for our own use, and the use of
those that should approve of it.

* Art. xix.
f First Part of the Sermon concerning the Sacrament.

422 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

§ 43. in the compiling this office, we had a special regard to
the communion office of the Church of England, as a testimony,
that according to Dr. Hammond's direction before mentioned,
we were willing and desirous still to join with it, where we did
not find it errroneous, and to have departed from the doctrine and
practice of the Universal Church, if not from the plain words of
Scripture, adding some few things out of king Edward's first
Liturgy, which though not essential, yet we conceived had been
laid aside in the second, without so much as a colour of reason
for it, but only to please Calvin : such as Hosanna in the highest;
Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord : which is
an hymn of praise to our Saviour taught in the gospels. Such
also is the naming the ever-blessed Virgin Mary in the general
intercession, according to what she herself prophesied in her
Magnificat, where she says, All generations shall call me
blessed : and such likewise is that Antiphon, which begins,
Christ^ our Paschal Lamb, is offered for its, &c. Also in the
order wherein the prayers have been placed, we have followed
that Liturgy, and particularly have set the confession, absolution,
comfortable sentences of Scripture, and prayer of humble access,
immediately before the distribution of the elements : in which
order of prayers, that Liturgy has followed the general practice of
the ancient Church, and the present established Liturgy has
deviated from it. But then where both these have deviated from
the practice of the Church, there we thought it necessary to
follow the much older Liturgies, rather than either of them. Thus
we thought it expedient, after the conclusion of the Seraphic
hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, &c., to proceed with the eucharistic
prayer to the words of institution, according to our Saviour's
command, and the order of all the ancient Liturgies but the
Liturgy of St. Mark, and the Ethiopic and Roman Missals, as I
trust I have sufficiently proved.* As to the controverted points,
(for the sake of which only we thought it necessary to alter the
communion office) we have followed the first Liturgy of king
Edward VI., excepting where we found it not so agreeable as
we could wish to the ancient Liturgies. Therefore we directed
the elements to be placed on the table, and wine to be put into
the cup, and a little pure and clean water to be put into it

* Supr. §. 14.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 423

immediately after the offertory. And our prayer for the saints
departed is in the very words of that Liturgy. And our oblation
and invocation had been the same as there, but that upon exami
nation we found the order of those prayers to be inverted : for
whereas in all the ancient Liturgies, except the Roman, the
words of institution, the oblation, and the invocation, always
follow one another in the order I have named them ; in this
Liturgy the last is put in the first place, and God is petitioned
to bless and sanctify the elements by the Holy Ghost, before we
have recited the words of institution, and thereby declared or set
forth our commission and our duty to perform that service :
which though a plain deviation from Catholic practice, as
appears from the order observed in all other Liturgies, yet was
by no means so material as the total exclusion of this invocation ;
and therefore had this been the only defect, we should have made
no separation on that account : but being obliged to separate,
because not an iota could be granted to satisfy us in these neces
sary things, as I trust they have been proved to be, the want of
authority to alter a tittle being urged, we chose rather to follow
the much more ancient practice of the Church, than the first
Liturgy of king Edward VI. and for that reason only, immediately
after the recital of the words of institution, appointed the oblation
and invocation to be made in the express words of the most
ancient and uninterpolated Liturgy, which is the form that Mr.
Johnson says he is persuaded in his own mind, that if we had
the very words in which St. Peter and St. Paul consecrated

the fttdjartSt, it would not differ in substance from * and

which bishop Hickes has affirmed,t and I trust Mr. Bingham
and I have proved to be, the test and standard of all others.
However this prayer, which we had so much reason to believe
was of unexceptionable authority, is now accused of rank popery,
and to favour transubstantiation as much as the most zealous
transubstantialist can desire:]; though the Roman Missal is the
only one that wants this prayer of all the Liturgies that preceded
the Reformation, and this very petition, which is now accused of
popery, was particularly excepted against by the Romanists in
their conference with the Greeks at the Council of Florence as

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part II. pp. 148, 149.
f Christian Priesthood, p. 141. 3d edit.
J No Sufficient Reason, &c. Part II. p. 86. No Just Grounds, &c. Pref. p. 1.

424 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

contrary to their doctrine of transubstantiation, as I have already
proved.*

However though I have already, I trust, sufficiently refuted
this calumny, where I have largely treated of this prayer, yet
having (since I wrote that part of this Treatise) had the happi
ness to see these very words which are charged with being as
express for transubstantiation as the most zealous transubstantia-
tors can desire, produced by the very reverend and learned Mr.
Spinckes as a clear evidence against that doctrine, I cannot but
take notice of it ; in hopes that his authority may induce a non-
juror to consider them again, and judge who has most reason on
their side, the author of " No Sufficient Reason," &c. and " No
Just Grounds," &c. when he urges them as a proof, that those
who use such a prayer must be the favourers of transubstantia
tion ; or Mr. Spinckes, who produces them as an evident proof
against that doctrine. Now Mr. Spinckes has lately published
an excellent little treatise against transubstantiation, called,
" The Article of the Romish Transubstantiation Inquired into
and Disproved from Sense, Scripture, Antiquity, and Reason;"
for which I take this occasion to return him my hearty thanks in
as public a manner as I can. Here he observes, that the great
difference betwixt the Church of Rome and us " is not whether
the elements in the holy eucharist do, upon their consecration,
become our Saviour's flesh and blood, but how, and in what
sense, and after what manner they do so." t And again he says,
" the question here between us is not, whether our Saviour's body
and blood be in the sacrament, which is all that the words of
institution teach ; nor whether the elements are changed bv a
miraculous power of the Divine Spirit, so as of common bread
and wine to become a supernatural food to our souls, by con
veying to the devout Christian all the benefits of our Saviour's
body broken, and his blood shed for him, each party being agreed
in these points ; but whether the bread and wine still retain their
own nature, and are spiritually, virtually, and sacramentally, our
Saviour's body and blood ; or whether they are after an incon
ceivable manner turned from being any longer bread and wine,
into our Saviour's very nature flesh and blood ; so as no longer
to retain their own nature or substance, but to become flesh and

* Super §.18. f Art of Rom. Transub. p. 2.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 425

blood, though under the appearance, and clothed with all the
accidents of bread and wine. The former of these we maintain,
namely, that the elements are so changed into our Saviour's body
and blood as to remain still bread and wine. On the other hand,
those of the Church of Rome teach that they are no more bread
and wine, but literally and physically our Saviour's flesh and
Mood under these appearances."* Then after many other argu
ments from reason and Scripture, to prove that our opinion is
right, and that of the Church of Rome is wrong, he says, "The
words of institution are not tolerable sense, if understood other
wise. For when our Saviour says, This is my body, it is certain
the particle this must have reference to something of which he
spake. And if that were his own body, the sense of the words
would be, This my body is my body ; which is too improper an
expression to father upon our blessed Lord. If it were bread,
the expression is significant enough, and no more exceptionable
than multitudes of others, both in the Old and New Testament.
And besides, that this is the truest and most genuine exposition
of the words, themselves sufficiently inform us, declaring that he
took bready and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to his dis
ciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.
For hence it appears, that what he told them was his body, was
what he gave them to eat ; what he gave them to eat was what
he brake; what he brake, was what he blessed; what he blessed,
was what he took ; and what he took, the text expressly tells us
was bread. And it was therefore by necessary and inevitable
consequence this bread, of which he said it was his body.
Agreeably whereto, the Latin translation of the Ethiopic Version
reads the words thus : Hie panis corpus meum, This bread is my
body ; and very justly, this being the only proper sense they will
bear. Thus, according to our Lord's own words, it was bread
and his body, bread naturally, and his body sacramentally ;
which is all we contend for."t From whence it is very justly
inferred, that where the words bread and Christ's body are put
together in the same sentence, as in this petition now under
consideration, they plainly favour our doctrine, and not that of
transubstantiation. And therefore amongst other ancient testi
monies against this doctrine of the Church of Rome, he produces

* Art of Rom. Transub. p. 4. f Ibid. pp. 39, 40.

3 i

426 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

this passage, which is by the author of " No Sufficient Reason,"
&c. made to be so express for it, saying, " Here I take occasion
to mention also the Apostolical Constitutions, in which we find
these words, That he may shew this bread the body of thy
Christ^ and this cup the blood of thy Christ"* He makes no
remarks at all upon it, but puts it down as a clear and plain
evidence in itself, even as plain as that which precedes it, cited
from Eusebius, which is, Having received an order by means of
the new covenant to commemorate this sacrifice (of our Saviour's
death for us) upon the table, by the symbols of his body and his
saving blood. And then immediately, without the intervention of
a word, follows what is cited from the Apostolical Constitutions :
which, from what Mr. Spinckes has before said upon the words of
institution, are necessarily to be thus understood, That he may
shew this, which is bread naturally, to be the bodyoftJiy Christ
sacramentally. However Mr. Spinckes cites them without any
limitation or restriction, as they stand in the Constitutions, and
as we use them, and thinks them so to be clear enough against
the doctrine he is confuting. But perhaps the author of " No
Sufficient Reason," &c. and his friends may say, that the passage,
as cited by Mr. Spinckes, and as used by us, is different, because
he says, That he may sijcil) this bread the body of thy Christ.
But I must say, that the words shew and make have really no
different signification in this place. For the bread is not naturally
Christ's body, even in the sense of the Church of England, but is
made so by consecration, being, as I have before observed, Mr.
Spinckes says, changed by a miraculous power of the Divine
Spirit. Therefore to pray, that the Holy Ghost may Sfjcb) this
bread to be the body of Christ, and the cup his blood, is no other
than to pray that he may tttaftr them so, since it is necessary
that they be changed by his miraculous power, as Mr. Spinckes
expresses it. And we chose to use the word make rather than
shew, because we conceived it] to be plainer English ; the
expression, shew this bread the body of thy Christ, being hardly
intelligible to most persons without an interpreter : therefore
bishop Hickes translated it, That he may (make) shew forth this
bread to be the body of thy Christ,-^ putting the word make in
a parenthesis, to explain the word shew forth, which he thought

* Art of Rom. Transub. pp. 77, 78.

f Christian Priesthood, p. 124. 3d edit.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 427

the more literal translation of the original. For it must indeed
be owned, that the original word cnro^vy does properly signify to
demonstrate, or to shew plainly and clearly : but then it also
signifies to make, and is sometimes used by authors in that sense.
And that it is to be used here, is evident from all the Greek and
Eastern Liturgies, not one of which wants this petition, and they
all use the word voiety, which properly signifies to make; and
the Latin translator renders the word aTro^rjrri in this place by the
word efficiat, may he effectually make, and Mr. Johnson* and
Mr. Binghamf do both translate it make. Having therefore
such good reason and authority to use the word make in this
place, rather than the word shew, we hope we shall not be
thought favourers of transubstantiation, which we so heartily
declare against, upon that account ; especially when this word
does really make no manner of difference in the sense of the
passage, as I trust 1 have clearly proved. And therefore if this
passage of the Constitutions be an evidence against the doctrine
of transubstantiation, as cited by Mr. Spinckes, it is so also as
used by us : and I am sure I ever thought it to be so from the
time I was acquainted with this prayer; and the Romanists
themselves thought it so too in the Council of Florence. And
because I thus thought it more opposite to transubstantiation
than any thing in the first Liturgy of king Edward VI. was one
great reason why I earnestly insisted to have it inserted into the
communion office lately compiled ; little thinking that this very
passage, which I thought so opposite to transubstantiation, would
ever be urged against us as favouring that doctrine as much as
the most zealous transubstantialist can desire. However, I
heartily thank the Reverend Mr. Spinckes for clearing us from
this aspersion, by citing this very passage as a plain evidence
against that absurd doctrine : for I am persuaded his authority
may at least incline some persons to re-consider this passage,
who by reading " No Sufficient Reason," &c. and " No Just
Grounds," &c. may have been made to believe that it is really as
express for transubstantiation as can be desired. I confess
indeed, the learned author of those two books has not directly
said, that the words, That he may shew or make this bread the
body of thy Christy and this cup the blood of thy Christ, do

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part II, pp. 91. 249.

f Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. VI p. 631,

428 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

expressly teach the doctrine of tran substantiation. But he has
said, that we require to pray in these words, without any man
ner of restriction, and in as express terms as C. Du Perron or
Bellarmine, or any of the most zealous transubstantiators could
ever desire, and beyond what is used in their Canon of the
Mass:* and that we have taken upon us to pray, that the
bread in the eucharist may be made our Saviour's body, and
the cup his blood, as formally and expressly as the fortcardest
transubstantialist in Europe could do it.\ Which are such
words as may lead an unwary reader to believe, that no one can
use that prayer who is not a transubstantialist. But Mr. Spinckes
has shewn that, in his opinion, it is far otherwise, by citing those
very words, without restriction also, as a clear evidence against
transubstantiation. And he has also shewn, that the bread in
the eucharist may be properly called Christ's body without
restriction, and that it has been so called even by those who have
given their bodies to be burned, rather than own the doctrine of
transubstantiation. For having observed, " That the question is
not, whether our Saviour's body and blood be in the sacrament,
which is all that the words of institution teach ; nor whether the
elements are changed by a miraculous power of the Divine Spirit,
so as of common bread and wine to become a supernatural food

to our souls; each party being agreed in these points." J

He tells us in a marginal note, that " this is well expressed by
Mr. Bradford the martyr, in the second of his two notable
Sermons concerning the Lord's supper. It is, says he, his body.
This I believe, this I confess ; and pray you all heartily to
beware of these and such like words, that it is but a sign, or
a figure of his body : except you will discern betwixt signs
which signify only, and signs which also do represent, confirm
and seal up, (or as a man may say) give ivith their signifi
cation"

Thus we see that Mr. Spinckes has taught us, that Mr. Bradford
the martyr, who died at the stake for denying transubstantiation,
was not afraid to say that he believed and confessed that the
bread in the eucharist is Christ's body, without restriction : nay
that he condemns the putting a restriction to it, unless that'
restriction be explained. And indeed to call the bread in the

* No Sufficient Reason, &c. pp. 85, 86, f No Just Grounds, &c. Preface.
* Art of Rom. Trans, p. 4.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 429

eucharist the body of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ,
without restriction, or to pray that it may be made so, is so far
from being what the most zealous transubstantiators could ever
desire, that I believe no transubstantiator was ever satisfied
concerning a man's belief of that doctrine by such a declaration
of it. To call the elements Christ's body and blood hntijOUt
t^StrtCttOtt, is by no means express enough for them, you must
put a transubstantiating restriction to it, or you do not say as
much as a transubstantialist can or will desire. A transub
stantiator will not say the bread in the eucharist is Christ's
body ; for he says, it is his body and no bread. Therefore to
pray that the bread may be made Christ's body, cannot agree
with a transubstantiator's opinion. The thing made must retain
the substance of the thing it is made of: but the doctrine of
transubstantiation teaches not that the bread is made the body
of Christ, but that the bread is directly annihilated ; that no
part of its substance remains there, and the whole body of Christ
is substituted in its place. Therefore none who knows what
transubstantiation is, can make the words under consideration
favourable to it : but the author of " No Sufficient Reason," &c.,
and " No Just Grounds," &c. knew, that it might be easy to impose
upon unwary or ignorant readers, and give them an abhorrence
of this newly compiled office, if he did but put into their heads a
notion that it favoured transubstantiation, which I confess he has
artfully enough done. However, I hope if any have been preju
diced against this form by this anonymous author's misrepresenting
this petition of it, they will now be satisfied from the learned Mr.
Spinckes, that it is a very plain evidence against transubstantia
tion. And I hope they will have more regard to Mr. Spinckes's
judgment, than to that of an anonymous author, we know not
whom, though he should really be, as he styles himself, a Non-
juror. I fear I may be thought to have said a great deal more
than was needful on this occasion ; but to have it insinuated that
we have made a very fair advance towards transubstantiation,
and that nobody knows how far we may proceed, as if downright
popery was at the bottom of all we have done, is so foul an
aspersion, that I thought I could not say too much to wipe it off:
knowing how ready people are to believe every thing to be popery,
which they have not before seen practised in any Protestant com
munion. However, hoping that what I have said may satisfy

430 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

the unprejudiced at least, that we are as far from favouring
transubstantiation, or any other corrupt or erroneous doctrine of
the Church of Rome, as any of those that most zealously oppose
us, I shall proceed to consider what has been farther done in this
alteration of the communion service, with the reasons for it. The
general intercession for the state of Christ's Church is taken
wholly from that in the present established Liturgy, or that in
the first Liturgy of king Edward VI. The petition for the
bishops and clergy is set before that for the king arid his Council,
as more agreeable to all the ancient forms. And as to the
petition for the saints departed, as in the first Liturgy of king
Edward VI. from whence it is taken into this, I trust I have
already sufficiently proved the necessity of it.* This intercession
is also removed to its proper place after the oblation and invoca
tion, as it is in all the ancient Liturgies, but that of St. Mark,
the Ethiopic, and the Roman ; and we thought it proper to follow
the greater number in this point, especially since it is also more
agreeable to the Clementine Liturgy, which is certainly the most
ancient. Then follows the Lord's Prayer, which is also in all
the ancient Liturgies, except the Clementine, and was in the
Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem as early as the Council of
Nice ; since St. Cyril, who flourished within twenty years after
that Council, speaks of it so particularly in his Mystagogical
Catechism here published, without any intimation of its being
newly put there, which it would have been proper for him to have
done if it had been so, and to hare given some reasons for that
addition, as pope Gregory did when he added it to the Roman
Canon. It stood so just before Christ our Paschal Lamb in the
first Liturgy of king Edward VI., but in the second was removed,
together with the prayer of oblation, (I mean so much of the
prayer of oblation as was permitted to remain) into the Post-
communion. So that though the Lord's Prayer be twice used in
the communion office of the Common Prayer Book, yet care was
taken it should not be said whilst the elements were on the table,
being ordered to be said the first time before the priest is directed
to place the bread and wine there, and the other after the bread
and wine have been distributed to the communicants. What the
reason of this was, I cannot say : but as we found it in all the

* Supr. §. 19.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 431

Liturgies (except the Clementine, where it is not at all) standing
before the prayer particularly made for the communicants, begging
pardon for their sins, and begging God's acceptance of them,
notwithstanding their unworthiness, commonly called in the
Greek Liturgies, The prayer at the bowing down the head, we
thought it expedient to restore it to the same place. The Anti-
phon, beginning Christ our Paschal Lamb, &c., I have already
accounted for, as being cast out of king Edward's first Liturgy,
without any reason that we could see for it. The invitation,
confession, &c., are the very same as in the established commu
nion office, and therefore need no defence with regard to those
that oppose us. As to their being placed here immediately before
the distribution, I have already accounted for it. The words of
distribution are the same with those in the first Liturgy of king
Edward, and seem to be the same that have been used in the
Latin Church. But the sentence following does not appear to
have been used in any Church whatsoever, till it was coined by
Calvin or some of his partizans, and put into the second Liturgy.
Thus is this communion office made as agreeable to the ancient
Liturgies as could well be, without deviating more from the
established form than we were willing to do. It is true, we have
made some alterations which we did not think absolutely neces
sary, as we do the four points which have been so much contro
verted. However we judged them to be expedient for the reasons
here given. But this is no argument of our unsteadiness, which
the author of "No Just Grounds, " &c. is pleased to charge us with.
Neither have we, as he says, made such unnecessary alterations,
as may give too much cause to doubt what other steps may in
time be thought necessary to be taken.* Neither as the author
of " No Sufficient Reason" suggests there has been, have any such
improvements as he is pleased to style them, been already made
as may give occasion to suspect what may follow in time ; f
or which may give any one reason to think these restorers will
not stop where they always pretended they would, that is, with
the Primitive Church of the first ages, those ages wherein the
governors of the Church of England have declared ftOCtfttttf atttt
rfltgtOtt to be most £ttre4 And if the learned author who has
charged us with such improvements as are disagreeable to our

* Preface. f Page 86. { Strype's Life of Archbishop Whitgift, p. 98.

432 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

first pretensions, will shew us any one alteration we have made
which is not agreeable to the consentient doctrine or practice of
the ancient Church, I will own this charge to be good ;- otherwise
it is no better than a calumny. For as to that improvement he
mentions in the communion office, (and I am not here concerned
to defend any thing more) where it is said, that he may make
this bread the body, &c., I have, I trust, sufficiently proved that
to be as primitive and universal as any one point whatsoever :
and he must find out some other improvement, before I can
think he has made good his charge. It is true, the author of the
Reasons pleaded for the restoration of some prayers and direc
tions, as they stand in the communion service of the first
English reformed Liturgy, compiled by the bishops in the 2nd.
and 3d. years of the reign of king Edward VI. But he pleaded
not for them merely because they were in that Liturgy, and
not in the present Liturgy of the Church of England : he pleaded
for those prayers and directions as they were more agreeable to
the Scriptures, and to the consentient doctrine and practice of
the pure Primitive and Catholic Church, than what was to be
found in the Liturgy which was introduced instead of it. He
did not insist upon the restoration of that communion service
word for word, but upon a restoration of some prayers and direc
tions which were agreeable in sense, though not in words, to the
practice of the Universal Church in the best and purest times,
which had been preserved in that communion service, but were
omitted in that which had been authorized in its room. He
pleaded that the wine in the eucharist might be always mixed
with water ; that there might be a prayer for the faithful departed,
and a prayer that the Holy Ghost might bless and sanctify the
bread and the cup to make them the body and blood of Christ ;
and that the bread and wine, after the words of institution had
been pronounced, might be offered to God by prayer in remem
brance of Christ's death. These were the prayers and directions
in the first Liturgy of king Edward VI., he desired might be
restored ; but plainly shewed it to be indifferent to him whether
they were restored in the words of that Liturgy or of any other.
So he had the things, he seemed not solicitous about the form
or order. And the revival of that Liturgy was not the thing that
was asked, but a restoration of Primitive practices which had
been preserved there, and were abolished afterwards. These

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 433

things were desired not as agreeable to the doctrine of the English
Church in the beginning of king Edward's reign, otherwise than
as they were also agreeable to that of the Catholic Church in the
best and purest times. And the Liturgy of Edward VI. was not
made the standard of what we insisted might be restored, but the
Primitive Church of the best and purest times, when the governors
of the Church of England acknowledged doctrine and religion
were most pure. Therefore if we can vindicate the office we now
use, and which is here published, by the doctrine and practice of
the Primitive Church, as it stood at or before the time of the
Council of Nice, or even at or before the Council of Chalcedon,
which was above an hundred years after, it could not be called
an addition to or improvement of our first proposals. For though
we insisted only upon the mixture, prayer for the dead, the
oblation and invocation, as essential points, and therefore could
not communicate where these were denied us, yet we always
owned, that whatever else was found to have been universally
practised in those first and purest ages, were desirable, and what
we should also be glad to see restored. Therefore, though we
would not have separated, if we could have obtained to have
had these things restored, as conceiving the peace of the Church
to be preferable to every thing that is not an essential part of our
duty, and that it must not be broken for the sake of what is only
expedient or desirable ; yet being denied what we then believed,
and still do believe to be absolutely necessary to the administra
tion of the eucharist, and being thereby obliged to separate, the
adding other things afterwards, when the separation was actually
made, is no real addition to our first proposals. For as they were
no cause of the making, so neither are they cause of the continu
ation of the breach betwixt us and our brethren. They set us at
no farther distance from each other than we were before ; for as
we only restored them as matters desirable and expedient, because
practised by the ancient Church, yet we have not insisted upon
the absolute necessity of them, and are still ready to re-unite with
our brethren upon our former proposals. We should be glad
indeed to see these and other things restored, not only by all our
brethren that are non-jurors, but also by our other brethren, the
bishops and priests of the public communion of the Church of
England, in their synods or convocations. Yet none of these
things, provided we might have the mixture, prayers for the
3 K

A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

dead, the oblation and invocation restored, should male us cou-

hese TP T "", ^ thm- BUI SiDCe' for the rrf«^ of
these, we are forced to separate, I see not why we may not

during our separation, use those other things also which we judge

to be desirable. The author of - Xo Just Grounds „ &c> .g gJJ

o say tf«< «., A«re ,,0 tolerate foundation for what u-e have

'"'\ , T , ,Qt ' tmSt th°Se Wh° hare 8^° themselves
the trouble to read the foregoing discourse, will see that we have

more than a tolerate fixation for what we have done even
a, good a foundation a* there is for the Canon of Scripture,
fo the observation of the I*r<PS day, and the baptL of
ants; and the same arguments by which this gentleman pre
tends to prove the insufficiency of our evidence for the things we
contend for, will equally prove the insufficiency of the evidence
we have for the Canon of Scripture, &c, and indeed of all histo-
nca evidence whatsoever. If such evidence as we have produced,
as the foundation of what we have hitherto done, is no tolerable
foundation, I must say he has no tolerab.e foundation to belSe
he gospels of St Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, were written
by those evangelists, more than he has to believe Toland's gospel
St. Barnabas was written by that apostle. For he has neither
e ancient nor more numerous evidence for it, than we have for
f the points we contend for. He may, if he pleases,
cafl this again undervaluing our evidence for the Canon of
Scripture; but it is he (and not we) that undervalues the evi-
deuce; for we say it is sufficient evidence, and he says it is not
so : 1 wish he would well consider it with himself.

§. 44. However, I desire the reader will not have any regard
either to what this gentleman or I have barely asserted, bu
arefully examine the proofs we have brought to maintain our

vn \ "? \ ^ ^ that haVe learniD° and opportunity

- search the Scnpture, and the fathers of the first three or four

centuries, to see which of us has most fairly represented their

entamente ,n these controverted points. For these things are

each6/8 , H *"** m°me,nt' °D Which the ve^ essence °f *e
euchanst depends; and if we are in the right, and I think it

more than probable that we are, it is plain tha the encharist

Preface.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 435

not rightly administered by the present form of the Church of
England, which all that receive by that form ought to be well
satisfied in. And therefore such as have abilities to do it, are
obliged to examine the exceptions made to it, to see whether
they be just and reasonable, or not; for howsoever God may be
merciful to those who offend not but through invincible ignorance,
or upon ignorance occasioned by a want of suspicion that they
are in the wrong; yet when that ignorance may be removed, and
occasion is given to suspect that they may be in the wrong,
a wilful continuance in such ignorance is not so excusable!
Therefore I hope those that can, especially the learned clergy of
this realm, will examine the matter themselves, and see whether
our evidence for the necessity of these things be sufficient. And
for others, if they are not able to make a right judgment con
cerning what is said by us on the one side, or the author of " Xo
Reason" and his friends on the other, I desire them not* to
believe what either of us have said of our own performances in
this respect. For if they ask us, we shall say, that we have
proved the mixture, prayer for the dead, the invocation and the
oblation, to be essential duties absolutely necessary at the minis
tration of the eucharist ; that we have demonstrated these things,
if not from the plain express words of Scripture, yet from the
Scripture as understood by the Universal Church in" the best and
purest times ; nay in all ages after down to the Reformation :
and that this is a very sufficient proof. If you ask them on the
other side, they will tell you, that we have no tolerable founda
tion for any thing we have done; that the proof we have
brought for these points is in every respect insufficient; that the
Scripture alone is the rule of faith, and nothing but an express
command of Scripture can make any thing a necessary duty;
that the fathers are of use indeed to interpret some obscure
places, but of no use at all where the Scriptures speak plain ;
that the testimony of the Universal Church for an apostolical
doctrine or practice is of no obligation where the Scripture has
not enjoined it, though it be testified by the fathers of the first
three centuries to be so ; and that if it was, we have not proved
the points contended for to be so testified. Now what shall an
honest well meaning Christian do in this case ? Shall he sav I
care not which is in the right, I will not trouble myself with Yhe
dispute ? That is, to sit down and remain wilfully ignorant in a

436 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

matter that concerns his salvation, which I can by no means
think excusable. Will he say, I am unable to examine the
merits of the cause, whom then shall I advise with concerning
these matters ? If I go to any person concerned in the contro
versy, or to those who communicate with them, they will say
those of their party are entirely right, and the others are entirely
wrong. I answer, let him go to some unbiassed person, who
speaks his real sentiments in this matter without any regard to
the controversy. But then the question returns, How or where
is such a person to be found ? The answer is, go to some man
of learning who is not engaged in communion with either of the
contending parties. But the question returns again, Though 1
may easily find a man that knows nothing of this dispute, or at
least if he has, yet has not given himself the trouble to examine
it ; yet where shall I find a man that I may be satisfied gives me
his opinion without a bias one way or other ? Where shall I
find a man who will not determine the matter agreeable to his
own practice ? And where is there a priest or minister of any
communion of Christians, but he either does or does not mix
water with the cucharistic wine, prays or prays not for the dead,
makes or makes not an oblation of the elements after he has
pronounced the words of institution, and invocatcs the descent of
the Holy Ghost to bless and sanctify the elements, or makes no
such invocation ? How then is it possible to know whether he
speaks without bias or prejudice in this case ? I answer, let
him enquire what men of learning and probity have said on this
occasion in their writings, without any manner of view to this
controversy : men whose learning may satisfy us, that what they
have said was upon good grounds, and well weighed and con
sidered before they delivered it : men whose probity may convince
us that they would not wilfully endeavour to deceive us : and
men whose zeal for, and constant adherence to, the Church of
England, would not permit them to say any thing that might in
the least derogate from its honour, or in the least depreciate the
respect due to its Liturgy, particularly the communion office, if
the force of truth had not extorted it from them. And these I
conceive are such authorities as an honest well meaning man,
who has not skill or opportunity to search into the bottom of this
controversy, or time to examine all that is or may be said for it
pro and con, may probably safely depend upon. Now let us see

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 437

what such men as they have said, without any regard to or con
cern in this controversy. As to the first point, That the Scrip
ture alone is the rule of faith, and nothing but a positive
command of Scripture can make any tiling a necessary duty ;
that the fathers are of use indeed to interpret some obscure
places, but of no use at all where the Scriptures speak plain ;
that the testimony of the Universal Church for an apostolical
doctrine or practice is of no obligation where the Scripture lias
not enjoined it, though it be testified by the fathers of the first
three centuries ; to this let Dr. Hammond speak and give an
answer, a person whose learning, probity, and affection to the
Church of England, cannot he questioned. Now he says in his
discourse of Heresy, " Although Scripture is the most certain
and safe rule of belief, yet there being no less veracity in the
tongues than in the hands, in the preachings than the writings
of the Apostles ; nay, prior sermo quam liber, prior Sensus
quam stilus, saith Tertullian, the Apostles preached before they
writ, planted Churches before they addressed epistles to them.
On these grounds I make no scruple to grant, that apostolical
traditions, such as are truly so, as well as apostolical ivritings,
are equally the matter of that Christian's belief, who is equally
secured by the fidelity of the conveyance, that as one is aposto
lical writing, so the other is apostolical tradition. Next then,
the enquiry must proceed by examining wrhat is this equal way
of conveyance, common to both these, upon the strength of which
we become obliged to receive such or such a tradition for aposto
lical. And this again is acknowledged not to be any Divine
testimony ; for God hath no where affirmed in Divine Writ, that
the epistle inscribed of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, consist
ing of so many periods as now it is in our bibles, was ever written
by that Apostle, nor are there any inward characters or signatures,
or beams of light in the writing itself, that can be admitted, or
pretended as testimonies of this, any more than the like may
exact to be admitted as witnesses, that the creed called the
Apostles, was indeed in the full sense of it delivered to the
Churches. It remains then, that herein on both sides wre rest
content with human testimonies of undoubted authority, or such
as there is not any rational motive to distrust, and of which alone
the matter is capable. For as in case of the question concerning the
epistle to the Romans, whether this be it which was addressed

438 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

by St. Paul to that Church, the only regular way of satisfying
that question, is, 1. by devolution, or appeal to the authority of
those fathers and Councils, to whom it was de facto sufficiently
testified and approved, (viz. by examination of the records of that
Church to whom it was written, and by whom received, through
the hands of some trusty messenger of that Apostle, such as
Phoebe, who ministered to him, and by other credible ways of
confirmation) and secondly, and by that consequence, to those
very original records, and proofs of undoubted fidelity. So the
way of trial of any tradition, pretended to be apostolical, whether
it be such or no, is by devolving it to the same, or the like fathers
and Councils, which having occasion and commodity to examine
the truth of the matter by the records or testimonies of those
Churches to which it was delivered, found it sufficiently testified
by them, that it was in truth according as is pretended. — Now
then comes the upshot of the enquiry, what qualifications there
are of a testimony or testifier, without which it or he may not be
thus deemed credible, worthy to be believed by a sober Christian:
and where these qualifications are to be found, which when we
have once resolved, it will also be possible for us to pass some
judgment of traditions duly styled apostolical, which as such
must be allowed to be the object of our faith. And herein I
shall hope also that the resolution will be unquestionable, if it be
bounded by those three terms to which Vincentius Lirinensis, in
his defence of the Catholic faith against heresies and innovations,
hath directed us, universality, antiquity, consent, viz. That the
testimony we depend on be the result of all the ancients consent
ing, or without any considerable dissent, or in yet fewer words,
a Catholic testimony truly such, i. e. in all respects; 1. of place,
2. of time, 3. of persons"*

Thus this learned Doctor, who lived and died in the commu
nion of the Church of England above fifty years before the
present controversy was started, though he allows the Scripture
to be the most certain and safe rule of belief, yet maintains
withal, that they are not the only rule, but that traditions duly
styled Apostolical, as such, must be allowed to be the object of
our faith. He may therefore be fairly depended on as an unpre
judiced person ; who, without any regard to this controversy,

* Sect, 3, 4. 1st vol. of his Works, p. 545.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 439

nay, when lie is opposing the Romanists where it might seem his
interest to depreciate tradition, says the very same that we say,
and what is directly contrary to the positions maintained by our
adversaries. But it may be said by the Doctor's rule, there can
be no such thing as Apostolical traditions duly testified ; for he
requires the testimony of till the ancients, and what one thing is
there which ail the ancients testify ? Neither have all the
works of the ancients been transmitted to us, that we should
know what they all say. But let us hear him explain himself
soon after : — " Whatsoever one Church professeth to have received
from the Apostle that planted it, is of itself sufficient, without the
confirmation of all others, to beget and establish belief in him,
to whom it thus testifies : Whereupon Tertullian refers the
enquirer to that Apostolic Church that is next him, be it Corinth,
if he live in Achaia, Philippi, or Thessalonica ; Ephesus, if in
Asia ; or if lie be in Italy, Rome. But this is no farther to be
extended, thau while we suppose without enquiry, that other
Apostolical Churches have received, and are ready to testify the
same ; which presumption or supposal must then cease, when
upon enquiry we find the contrary? Therefore where the con
trary does not appear, the testimony of one Church is plainly
sufficient to prove the universality of a tradition, especially when
all other Churches do give their testimony to it, as soon as we
can find them speaking any thing about it : that is, that whatever
we find to be a tradition of one Church in the first times suc
ceeding the Apostles, and do not find it contradicted at that time
or after by any other Apostolical Churches, but other Churches
or fathers of those Churches do also testify it as soon as we can
find them speaking of it, that we may safely conclude to be
Apostolical and Universal, or delivered by the Apostles to all
Churches where they preached. And this is plainly Dr. Ham
mond's rule, otherwise there could be no tradition for the Epistle
to the Romans, or any other book of the New Testament, which
we might depend upon. So as to all times he thus explains
himself: — " As for the universality of time, that must be cau
tiously understood, not so as to signify it a prejudice to any
doctrine, if in some one or more ages it have not been universally
received, for then there could be no heretics at any time in the
world ; but so as to extend to the first and purest, and not only
to the latter ages of the Church." And a little after he shews

440 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

those to be the first and purest times which were before the first
four general Councils ; that is, before the middle of the fifth cen
tury. So that what we find to have been universally received
before that time, which even our adversaries cannot deny all
these points to be for which we contend, in this learned Doctor's
opinion we are obliged to receive as Apostolical tradition. Then
he says : — " For the consent of testifiers, that is also necessary to
the rendering it a Catholic and authentic testimony ; any consi
derable number of dissenters being of necessity to weaken our
belief. But their general conform testimony, without any consi
derable dissenters producible, is, I acknowledge, authentic or
worthy of belief" Now I conceive the reader may depend upon
this great man's judgment and opinion in this case, because he
had no interest, no party-cause to serve in this case ; he was
writing against the Church of Rome, who pretend a great zeal
for traditions, against which it would have been an easier and a
shorter answer to have said as our adversaries do, that the Scrip
tures are the only rule of faith and practice, that tradition may
help to explain some obscure texts, but we must by no means
seek to introduce other duties by the help of tradition. Yet he
freely grants, that Apostolical . traditions, such as are truly so,
as well as Apostolical writings, are equally the matter of the
Christianas belief, who is equally secured of the fidelity of the
conveyance. And allows that to be an equal security of the
fidelity of the conveyance, which is supported by equal testimony :
that is, that we have as good testimony that one is an Apostolical
tradition, as we have that the other is an Apostolical writing.
And this is as much as we desire in this point. And upon this
principle he maintains in his Practical Catechism, as I have
before shewed, that if the particular Church wherein I live is
departed from the Catholic Apostolic Church of the first and
purest times, meekness requires my obedience and submission to
the Catholic Apostolic Church, and not the particular wherein
I live. Neither is what he says on this occasion a bare opinion,
but opinion founded on solid reason, a reason which I think is
unanswerable. Mr. Thorndike, another very learned divine of
the Church of England, is another unbiased person as to the
present controversy, living and dying but a little after Dr. Ham
mond, who having employed several pages in proving that all
things necessary to salvation arc not clear in the Scriptures, he

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 441

says, It remains that we affirm, whatsoever the whole Church,
from the beginning, have received and practised for the rule of
faith and manners, all that to be evidently true, by the same
reason for which we believe the very Scriptures. And truly,
(says he a little after) if it were as easy to make evidence what
those things are, which have been received, professed, and prac
tised from the beginning by the whole Church, as it is necessary
to admit all such for truth, I suppose there would remain no
great difficulty in admitting this principle. But in regard it
is so easy to shew what contradiction hath been made within
the pale of the Church, so that which elsewhere, other whiles,
hath been received, I cannot tell whether men despair to find
any thing generally received from the beginning, and therefore
lay aside this principle, not as false, but as useless, and not to
be put in practice.* Whether it be as easy to make evidence of
what has been delivered by tradition, as it is proper to admit
such for truth when evidenced, is another question ; but it is plain
Mr. Thorndike thinks it is necessary to believe it when evidenced,
which is as much as he is now cited to prove. And he supposes
those who deny this principle, do deny it only because they sup
pose such evidence is not to be had. But then he shews himself
to be none of those who believe such evidence is not to be had,
saying soon after : — " I do profess, that were not the Church, or
had it not been one society, one visible body, communion or cor
poration of men from the beginning, the communion whereof
always confined the profession and conversation of Christians to
some certain visible rule ; I should think it impossible to make
evidence of any common truth received by all Christians. But
if it can appear that the Church from the beginning was such a
society, then may such rules as reasonably appear to be original
and Catholic, as it can appear reasonable to any man that he
ought to be a Christian." Bishop Taylor, a learned prelate of the
Church of England, and contemporary to the other two foremen-
tioned authors, and therefore most certainly unbiassed as to the
present controversy, in his Ductor Dubitantium, even when he
seems desirous to speak against tradition, is yet forced by the
power of truth to speak as directly for it as we can desire,
saying : — To enquire of what use traditions are, is to no purpose

* Epilogue, book 1. chap. 6. p. 35.
3 L

442 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

for us ; for there is no tradition of any doctrine of faith or rule
of life, but what is in Scripture : * this one would think to be
as plain and full in favour of our adversaries as can be desired.
And yet it is certain from his very next words, that he thought
tradition was to be equally regarded with Scripture, if it could
be as well proved as the Scripture. For he immediately says,
But if there were, (that is, if there were traditions of any doc
trine of faith or rule of life, which is not in Scripture) traditions
would be of the same use as Scripture is, if the tradition were
from Christ and his Apostles, and were as certain, as universal,
as credible as that is, (viz., as that tradition is) ly which we are
told that Scripture is the Word of God. For the Word which
is now written, was first delivered ; that which is now Scrip
ture, ivas at first tradition. Whatever therefore be the meaning
of his other words, these last are as favourable to tradition as we
can wish. But it may be said, that at the same time that he
grants such authority to traditions so attested, he plainly denies
there are any such. I answer, that is not to the purpose, for we
are yet only enquiring whether if there be a tradition as certain,
as universal, as credible as the tradition is upon which we
believe the Scriptures ive now have to be the Word of God,
such a tradition is obligatory, and requires our obedience to it,
and in this the learned bishop speaks directly to our purpose.
Nay, though he so positively says, that it is to no purpose for us
to enquire of what use traditions are ; yet he presently after
shews them to be of great use, and observes how the fathers
made use of them to confute the heretics. And then he farther
says, " There is yet one use more of traditions, but it is in rituals,
and in such instances concerning which St. Paul wrote to the
Corinthians the words, The rest "will I set in order when I come.
Such are,— 1. &ty OtorbattOU Of tyt &OVITS &a& solemnly
once a year, and less solemnly once a week, that is, the feast of
Easter, and the weekly Sunday. 2. The government of the
Church by bishops, which is consigned to us by fralU'ttOn groitft
tfjan Some fcOOftS Of Stricture, and as great as that of the
Lord's day ; and that so notorious, that thunder is not more heard
than this in all the monuments of antiquity. 3. Offices ecclesi
astical, to be said and done fa) CCCll*ta0ttcal jm*80ttS : such are

* Book II. chap. 3. § 15. p. 3(57.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 443

the public prayers of the Church, and the consecration of the
blessed eucharist, the blessing of the married pairs, and joining
them in the holy mysterious right of marriage, the consecration
of bishops by bishops only, and of priests by bishops and presby
ters ; though for this last there is not so universal tradition, that
every where requiring the imposition of the bishops' hands, and
but in some places requiring the assistance of presbyters. These
three are the most universal and apostolical traditions, which
although they also have great grounds in Scripture, yet because
the universal practice and doctrine of the Church of God in all
ages, and in all Churches Primitive, IS tttft Utteig ifctttint attU
notorious, less Itaille to mutton, and an apt commentary
upon the certain, but less evident places of Scripture ; therefore
these may be placed under the protection Of Universal trafcttton,
for they really have it beyond exception. And although in these
the Scripture is sufficient to all wise and good men, to all that
are willing to learn and obey, and not desirous to make sects and
noises ; yet because all men are not wise, and good, and disinter
ested, tradition in these things is to Scriptures as a burning glass
to the sun : it receives their rays in a point, and unites their
strength, and makes them burn as well as shine ; that is, it
makes them do what in their own nature they are apt to do, and
from doing which they arc only hindered accidentally."- Then
he adds :— " By these instances it is evident, we ought not to
refuse tradition when it is universal, nor yet believe that in any
thing of great concernment, though it be but matter of rite or
government, the Scripture is defective ; for in these things we
admit tradition to be the commentary, but Scripture to be the
text : lidvra avu^uva TCUQ ypa</>a7e ; as Irena3us in Eusebius ex
presses it, all must be agreeable to Scripture. And although a
tradition so absolutely universal as these w7ere a warranty greater
than any objection can be against them, and were to be admitted,
though they had no express authority in Scripture, as all these
have ; yet that all these things are in Scripture, is a very great
argument of the perfection of it."f Now if we observe how this
learned prelate has worded what he has here said, we shall find
that he was heartily desirous, if he could, to depreciate tradition
and make it useless : else why does he so expressly say, To

* Book II. chap. 3. 5 19, p. 369. f Ibid. § 20.

444 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

enquire of what use traditions are, is to no purpose for us, for
there is no doctrine of faith or rule of life but what is in Scrip
ture. These words are as plain evidence as can be, that he
would, if possible, have the Scriptures thought so plain and clear
as to stand in no need of tradition for a commentary ; for if they
do, it is certainly to very great purpose to enquire of what use
traditions are. Therefore when he afterwards owns the use of
traditions, nay, grants that " if there were a tradition from Christ
and his Apostles, and were as certain, as universal, as credible
as that is by which we are told that Scripture is the Word of
God," that is, by which we know the Canon of Scripture, or
what books are the Word of God, and what are not, such tradi
tion would be of the same use that Scripture is : nothing but
the demonstrable evidence of this truth could Tiave extorted such
an acknowledgment from him. And then when he shews the
use of tradition in some particular instances, though he asserts
that in these the Scripture is sufficient to all ivise and good
men, yet he allows the Scripture proof to be less evident, and
that the tradition is less liable to exception, which plainly grants
that the Scripture evidence for these things is not convincing,
and may without difficulty be evaded, and that without the com
mentary of tradition it could hardly be discovered to be in the
Scripture : nor indeed do I see, how all wise, and good, and
disinterested men, would find the things he mentions, if it was
not by the help of tradition, which he says is infinitely evident
and notorious. For though the Scriptures will satisfy a wise,
good, and disinterested person, that " it is very lawful to observe
the Lord's day, that the Church be governed by bishops, and
that offices ecclesiastical be said and done by ecclesiastical per
sons," which are the points which the bishop instances in as
proper to be placed under the protection of universal tradition,
yet the Scriptures alone will not prove these to be necessary
without the help of tradition. For the Scripture no where ex
pressly commands these usages, nor does the bishop pretend it
does, only these things are agreeable to the Scripture ; there is
enough in Scripture to satisfy us that they are lawful, but it is
from tradition that we are convinced of their necessity. And the
same we say of the points contended for, they are agreeable to
the Scripture ; that is, there is enough in Scripture to satisfy us,
that they are lawful. This our adversaries themselves allow,

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 445

they acknowledge them to be desideranda, what they desire to
have restored in a regular way, * which is a clear evidence that
there is no dispute betwixt us, whether they are agreeable to
Scripture or not, but only whether they are necessary ; for we
cannot suppose our adversaries, who are so zealous for the suffi
ciency of Scripture, would desire to see any thing restored, though
they confine that desire to a more regular way than they conceive
we have taken, which is not agreeable to Scripture : but whether
they are necessary or not, is the only question ; and in order to
prove this necessity, they are placed, as the learned bishop does
the points he instances in, under the protection of universal
tradition, for they really have it beyond all exception. And
that they have so, is the next point I am to prove, from disinter
ested writers of the Church of England, that is, such eminent
divines of the Church of England as have not been engaged in
this controversy one way or other.

§. 45. I shall begin with bishop Hickes, who speaking of the
consentient doctrine and practice of the ancient Catholic
Church with regard to the eucharist, mentions three of the things
we contend for as always used in the Primitive Church in the
ministration. The Kpa/na or mixture of water with the sacra
mental wine, the prayer of oblation, and the prayer unto God
the Father to send down his Holy Spirit upon the sacrifice, to
make the bread the (mystical) body, and the cup the (mystical)
blood of Christ.^ And in his " Second Collection of controversial
Letters relating to the Church of England and the Church of
Rome," J he allows prayer for the dead to be also a Primitive
and Catholic tradition. For the Romish priest having objected
to him, that in the most early ages, People in all nations adored
Jesus Christ in the sacrament, anointed the sick, Jjragffc fflt
tfje ftcatf, &c.§ Having answered the other points, he thus
answers the prayer for the dead; "Yes, Sir, they prayed for the
dead, but for what sort of dead, or how they prayed for them,
your uncertain equivocal expression does not tell the Lady, and
therefore I must. First then, they prayed only for such dead or
departed souls as they believed were happy, and especially for
such as they believed to be in the highest degree of happiness,

* No Necessity, p. 1. f Christian Priesthood, pp. 140, 141. 3d. edit.

J Pages 86, 87. § Ibid. p. 12

446 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

for their saints, martyrs, and confessors. And this they were
wont to do annually on the days of their departure : and they did
it to shew, that the faithful departed did not perish, but after
their departure were still members of the Church, and worthy to
be commemorated as faithful soldiers and servants of Christ,
while they were of the militant Church. Secondly, therefore
inasmuch as the life of a Christian is a life of labour, pains, and
trouble, and trial ; a spiritual warfare, in which we are constantly
to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil ; they prayed
God, when they were departed this world, to give them ease and
refreshment in the other; to perfect and consummate their
happiness ; to give them a speedy resurrection, or part in the first
resurrection of the just. This was the way of praying for the
dead, which the ancient Church used. It is first mentioned by
Tertullian, who flourished in the latter end of the second century,
as a Christian custom or practice, which among others had been
used in the Church before his time." Thus he plainly allows
this tradition and practice as we desire to have it restored. He
allows Tertullian's testimony,- that it was a tradition of the
Church, that is, of the Church Universal, consisting of people in
all nations, as his adversary had expressed it. lie confines it
not to the Church of Africa, as the author of" No Reason" does;*
nor does he suspect with that author that it was no tradition of
any part of the Catholic Church, but that Tertullian received this
tradition together with his Montanism. And what bishop Hickes
thus plainly allows to have been an ancient and universal practice
in the purest ages of the Church in this place, he in another
plainly shews that he believes to be a most ancient and universal
tradition^ and what is most ancient must be apostolical,
Indeed I cannot say he does it in his own words, but he does it
in the words of a Scotch bishop, Dr. Forbes, bishop of Edin
burgh, J whom he quotes in vindication of the prayer for the
dead in the communion service of the first Liturgy of king Ed
ward VI. so that I may call it the opinion of two eminently
learned bishops, bishop Hickes and bishop Forbes; the Scotch
bishop's originally, and the English bishop's as cited by him,
where he chose to deliver his opinion in another's words rather
than his own. Bishop Forbes then, as cited by bishop Hickes,

* Pages o5, 56. f Appendix to Christian Priesthood, p. 20.

t Considerat, Modest, part TI. cap. 3. § 18, 19. p. 218.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 447

recites the prayer for the dead as it stands in the communion
service in the first Liturgy of king Edward VI. and then says,
" The bishops of the Church of England afterwards, at the sug
gestion and with the counsel of Bucer and others, blotted out
these most ancient and pious prayers, or changed them into
another I know not what form, savouring of the novelty now in
vogue. — But I wish the Church of England, which otherwise
deserves singular praise for her great moderation in many other
things, although perhaps not of equal weight, had rather in this
matter, and some few others, conformed to the custom of the
most ancient Universal Church, than for the sake of some errors
and abuses, which afterwards crept in by little and little, altoge
ther rejected and wholly taken it away, to the great scandal of
almost all other Christians." In the same page bishop Hickes
cites a passage from Mr. Thorndike, which is full of prayers for
the dead. And that he agreed with bishop Forbes and Mr.
Thorndike in this point, is plain from the very last, tract of his,
which was printed before his death. There bishop Hickes writes
thus to his correspondent : " In answer to your last question I do
assure you, that 1 arn heartily of Mr. Thorndike's opinion, and as
truly zealous as you may imagine he was, for praying for the
dead who depart in the faith and fear of God, and in the peace
of the Church."* And how desirous he was of having primitive
usages restored, appears from these words which immediately
precede those above cited, and are in the same page. "As for
the transient, aerial, and vanishing signs of the cross, which in
the pure ancient times were used in religious worship; I very
much approve of the use of them, as we do in baptism, and as I
would have done in anointing the sick with oil, and persons con
firmed with chrism, were we so happy as to have those primitive
religious rites and usages restored." The next I shall produce
to prove that the points in dispute betwixt us and our adversaries
are apostolical and universal traditions, is Mr. Johnson, who
with regard to the mixture says, " It is certain that the primitive
Christians did offer water mingled with wine in the eucharistical
cup: Justin Martyr, Irenocus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Cy
prian, do expressly mention it. And though we know there were
several heretics that used water only in the sacrament, yet we

* Supplement of Additions to the third edition of Dr. Hickes's two Treatises
&c., p. 46.

448 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

have not heard of any in the most primitive times that used wine
alone, either in the Church or without it: and this practice
remained universal for the first fifteen hundred years after Christ,
in all Churches excepting that of Armenia."* I own he does
say immediately after, that the Scripture makes no mention of
water ; but 1 cite him for the antiquity and universality of the
tradition, which our adversaries deny, or at least pretend that it
is not proved. As to prayer for the dead, he says, " There is one
proof of the propitiatory nature of the eucharist, according to the
sentiments of the ancient Church, which will be thought but only
too great ; and that is the devotions used in the Liturgies, and so
often spoken of by the fathers, in behalf of deceased souls : there
is, I suppose, no Liturgy without them, and the fathers frequently
speak of them. St. Chrysostom mentions it as an institution of
the Apostles. St. Austin asserts, that such prayers are beneficial
to those who have led lives so moderately good as to deserve
them. Cyril of Jerusalem mentions a prayer for those who are
gone to sleep before us. And St. Cyprian mentions the denial of
these prayers, as a censure passed upon some men by his prede
cessors. Tertullian speaks of this practice as prevailing in his
time. And the Constitutions do require priests and people to
use these sorts of devotion for the souls of those that die in the

faith. Dr. Whitby has fully proved, in his annotation on

2 Tim. iv. 4. that the primitive fathers, and even the Apostles,
did not believe, that the souls of the faithful are admitted into
heaven before the day of judgment. It was I suppose from hence
concluded, that they were in the interim in a state of expectance,
and were capable of an increase of light and refreshment.
Since praying for them while in this state was no where for
bidden, they judged it therefore lawful ; and if it were lawful, no
more need be said, nature will do the rest,"f This learned
gentleman plainly shews that the tradition in his opinion is
primitive and universal ; he does not indeed say in express words
that the practice is necessary, but he says what amounts to it,
for he says, If it be lawful, (and our adversaries grant it is, for it
is one of their desideranda in a regular way) nature will do the
rest ; that is, it is unnatural not to do it. And sure h is neces
sary to do what it is unnatural to omit. Then as to the oblation

* Unbloody Sacrifice, part II. pp. 58, 59. f Ibid, part I. p. 287.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 449

and invocation he says, " I have already proved, that the Holy
Ghost was, by the vote . of antiquity, the principal immediate
cause of the bread and wine's becoming the body and blood. It
now remains only that I shew, that the subordinate or mediate
cause of it is, 1. The reciting the words of institution. 2. The
oblation of the symbols. 3. The prayer of invocation. All these
three did in the ancient Liturgies immediately follow each other
in the order I have mentioned them ; and each of them was
believed to contribute towards the consecration of the elements
into the body and blood."* And indeed the main design of his
two books of the " Unbloody Sacrifice," is to prove that the obla
tion and invocation are agreeable to the Scriptures and the
consentient doctrine of the Church, from the Apostles' days for
at least six hundred years downwards. To these I shall add
archbishop Wake, who though he does not give us his thoughts
of these points particularly, yet, as I have before observed, speak
ing of the Liturgies that go under the name of St. Peter, St.
Mark, and St. James, he says ; " Since it can hardly be doubted
but that those holy Apostles and Evangelists did give some
directions for the administration of the blessed eucharist in those
Churches ;"f that is, the Churches of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria,
and Jerusalem : " It may reasonably be presumed, that some of
those orders are still remaining in those Liturgies which have
been brought down to us under their names ; and that those
prayers wherein they all agree, (in sense at least, if not in words)
were first prescribed in the same or like terms by those Apostles
and Evangelists." Now any one that reads the Liturgies here
published, must see that they all agree in the four controverted
points ; consequently that it is this most reverend prelate's
opinion, that all these are apostolical traditions. Thus we have
three learned bishops and divines that have given us their
opinions in this controversy to our side of the question, without any
bias or partiality towards us, for they all wrote before we had
declared our thoughts, or the controversy was begun betwixt us
and our adversaries. Therefore they may be esteemed impartially
to have spoken their minds on this occasion. And they plainly
teach, that all the things we contend for may be proved to be
truly primitive and universal traditions, which is all I have here

* Unbloody Sacrifice, Part I. p. 234.

f Preliminary Discourse to his Translation of the Apostolical Fathers, p. 102
3 M

450 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

cited them as asserting. There are others, who though they do
not speak of all the four points, yet have occasionally mentioned
some of them as primitive and universal traditions, of which I
name one or two. The very reverend and learned Mr. Spinckes
(whom no body that knows any thing of this controversy will
judge to he biased on our side the question) plainly allows the
testimony of Justin Martyr for the mixture, I mean, that Justin
Martyr does speak of bread and wine and waters being offered
in the eucharist in his time, which is a testimony our adversaries
have endeavoured to wrest from us by a criticism upon the word
Kpa^ua or mixture used by that father, saying, It is not easy to
define what he meant by it:* for he says expressly that father
calls the consecrated elements, bread, totnc, and toattff, over
which thanks are given. f So that the word Kpfipa in this
learned gentleman's opinion does not make Justin's testimony
obscure, as our adversaries have endeavoured to make it. From
whence even the unlearned reader may be satisfied, that we have
not misrepresented this true primitive testimony. Mr. Thorndike,
a very learned divine before mentioned, proves two of the points
we contend for to be agreeable to the Scriptures and the univer
sal practice of the Christian Church. For thus he speaks of the
consecration, which the Church of England J and our adversaries§
maintain is sufficiently performed by a recital of the words of
institution. To this Mr. Thorndike says, " Coming now to con
sider wherein the consecration of the eucharist consists, I find no
opinion on foot, but that which hath taken possession by the
authority of the school doctors, that it is performed by the recital
of these words, This is my body, This is my blood. But these
words, as they are used in consecrating the eucharist, are part of
the rehearsal of that which our Lord Christ did, when he conse
crated that eucharist which he gave his disciples. And will any
reason endure this, that the eucharist be thought to be conse
crated, by reciting what Christ said, when he delivered that
eucharist he had consecrated, and not by doing what Christ

* No Reason, p. 4. No Sufficient Reason, Part I. pp. 44, 45. No Just
Grounds, pp. 46, 47.

f Article of Rom. Transub. p, 71.

J Rubric concerning the Consecration of more bread or wine, if the conse
crated bread and nine be all spent.

§ No Sufficient Reason, p. 102.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 451

commanded to be done when he appointed it to be celebrated ?
Certainly, he that says, Christ took bread, and blessed it, and
brake it, saying, Take, eat, this my body ; says what Christ did
and said, before he delivered it. He that says farther, that he
said, Do this in remembrance of me ; says that Christ instituted
this sacrament. But to say that Christ instituted this sacrament,
is not to consecrate that sacrament Christ instituted : that is
not done, but by doing that which Christ is said to have done.
And is not Christ said to have blessed the elements ? Is it not
said, that, having taken and blessed, and broken bread, delivering
it to his disciples, he affirmed it to be his body at the present
when he delivered it ? Can the becoming his body be imputed
to the taking, or breaking, or delivering it ? Doth it not remain
then, that it be imputed to the blessing of it ? Here, finding it
evident, by comparing the Evangelists one with another, and
with St. Paul, that blessing and giving of thanks in this case
are both one and the same thing signified by two words ; I must
needs infer, that blessing the elements, is nothing else but giving
God thanks over them, (which at present our Lord had in hand)
with intent to make them the sacrament of his body and blood.
The people of God in our Lord's time were wont to take nothing
for meat and drink, without giving God thanks solemnly for it,
as they had it in hand. — Therefore St. Paul, withstanding those
heretics that taught to abstain from meats which God hath made
to be participated with thanksgiving by thefaithjid, and such
as have known the truth, adds for his reason ; because every crea
ture of God is good, and none to be rejected from being received
with thanksgiving : for it is sanctified by the word of God and
prayer.* — The creatures of God then are sanctified to the
nourishment of our bodies by thanksgiving, with prayer for God's
blessing ; and shall we think, that that thanksgiving wherewith
they are sanctified to the nourishment of our souls, doth not
include prayer to the effect intended, that they may become the
body and blood of Christ, which God by his sacrament pretends
to feed our souls with ? And does not the execution of our
Saviour's institution, when he says, Do this, consist in giving
God thanks for the redemption of mankind, with prayer, that we
may be fed by the flesh and blood of Christ in the eucharist ?—

* 1 Tim. iv. 3—5,

45*2 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

For seeing that this sacrament, that is, the elements consecrated
are called the eucharist all over the Church from this thanks
giving, the act thereof passing upon them, to give them by way
of metonymy this name ; what can be more reasonable than to
grant, that it is this act (and not the rehearsal of the words of the
gospel, which relate what our Lord did and said in instituting as
well as celebrating it) by which the consecration is performed ?
Though on the other side, I insist, that these words have always
been rehearsed by the Church in consecrating the eucharist, and
ought still to be frequented. — St. Paul when he saith, For, if
thou bless by the Spirit, he that Jills the place of an idiot, or
private person, how shall lie say if)£ amen upon this thanks
giving ? For he knoweth not what thou sayest. For thou
indeed givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.* By
blessing and giving thanks, means the consecrating the eucharist;
(which those that had the grace of languages among the Corinth
ians undertook then to do in unknown tongues, and are therefore
reproved by the Apostle) because it may appear by the constant
practice of the whole Church, that it ended with an amen of the
people, which St. Paul therefore calls ti)e flitttftt, ro a^v, to wit,
that was used in that case. And also that when he writeth to
Timothy ; / exhort therefore, first of all, to make supplications,
prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings for all men ; for kings, and
all that are in eminence, that we may lead a peaceable and
quiet life, in all piety and gravity ; he intends to charge, that
at the celebration of the eucharist, (which he here calls thanks
givings) prayers be made as for all estates of men, so especially
for public powers and princes; because St. Augustine, St.
Ambrose, and the author De Vocatione Gentium, do expressly
testify to us, that the custom which the Church then, and always
afore and since hath had to do this, came from this ordinance of
St. Paul, and containeth the fulfilling of it ; and because it is
manifest in all the forms of Liturgy, in all Churches that are yet
extant, and by the mention made of the manner of it upon
occasion in the writings of the fathers, that the eucharist was
never to be celebrated without prayer for all states of Christ's
Church. And this indeed is a great part of the evidence I
pretend. — In all these, you shall observe a prayer to begin,

* I Cor. xiv. 16, IT.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 453

where the deacon formerly saying, Lift up your hearts; the
people answered, We lift them up unto the Lord. The subject
of it is to praise God for creating the world, and maintaining
mankind, through his providence, with the fruits of the earth :
then (after acknowledgement of Adam's fall) for using first those
means of reclaiming mankind unto God, which we find by the
Scriptures that it pleased God to use ; under the law of nature
first by the patriarchs, then under the law of Moses by the
prophets, then sending our Lord Christ to redeem the world.
Upon which occasion, rehearsing how he instituted the eucharist
at his last supper, prayer is made that the Holy Ghost, coming
down upon the present elements, may sanctify them to become
the body and blood of Christ ; so that they who receive them,
may be filled with his grace. This being so visible in so many
of these Liturgies, shall we say, that all that follows after the
deacon's warning, Let us give thanks, makes up that which the
ancient Church, after St. Paul, by a peculiar term of art as it
were, calls the eucharist or thanksgiving ? Or that the sacra
ment, which taketh the name from it, is consecrated only by
rehearsing those words which our Lord said when he delivered it,
This is my body, This is my blood ? Especially, all the reason
in the world informing, that the presence of the body and blood
of Christ in the eucharist (being that which God promiseth upon
the observation and performance of his institution and appoint
ment) cannot be ascribed to any thing else."*

What he here says and proves from Scripture and tradition, is
perfectly agreeable to the communion office lately compiled for
our use, where " we praise God for creating mankind, &c.," and
" pray for the descent of the Holy Ghost to bless and sanctify the
elements," and " intercede for all estates and conditions of men,"
after the warning, Let us give thanks : but is by no means
reconcileable to the communion office of the Church of England,
which has no thanksgiving for the creation, &c., no prayer for
the descent of the Holy Ghost to sanctify the elements, no inter
cession after the warning to give thanks : so that though there
be an intercession in what is called the communion office, there
is none in the eucharistical part of it, which St. Paul expressly
requires, and the Church always practised till the Reformation.

* Epilogue, Book III. of the Laws of the Church, chap. iv. p. 23.

454 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

And as Mr, Thorndike plainly agrees with us as to the form of
consecration, by thanksgiving, and invocation for the descent of
the Holy Ghost to bless and sanctify the elements, so he does in
the point of prating for the dead. He shews its agreeableness
to the holy Scriptures, saying, " What have we in the New Tes
tament for it or against it ? St. Paul says, ' God grant mercy to
the house of Onesiphorus ; for he refreshed me many times, and
was not ashamed of my chain : but being in Rome, carefully
sought and found me. THE LORD GRANT HIM TO FIND MERCY OF
THE LORD IN THAT DAY. For how many things he furnished me
with at Ephesus, thou better kuowest.'* Shall I say that One
siphorus was alive at Rome when St. Paul wrote this, and that
therefore he prayeth for his household apart, and himself apart ?
Let impartial reason judge whether St. Paul would have prayed
for him that was alive with him at Rome, as one, who coming to
Rome, and not ashamed of his bonds, found him out and refreshed
him ? Or whether he prays for him being dead, ' that he may
find mercy in THAT DAY ;' for his family only, ' that they may find
mercy ?' But fall that how it may, he prays for that which could
not befall him till the day of judgment; and therefore may be
prayed for on behalf of those who are not come to the day of
judgment, though dead. And therefore all those Scriptures which
make the reward of the world to come to depend upon the trial of
the day of judgment, do prove that we are to pray for the issue
of it, in behalf of all, so long as it is coming. St. Paul says,
' Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that YOU MAY BE

BLAMELESS IN THE DAY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.' f ' Repent

ye and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, WHEN THE

TIME OF REFRESHING SHALL COME FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE

LORD.' t ' That I may REJOICE IN -THE DAY OF CHRIST, that I
have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain.'§ ' For what is our
hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the pre
sence of our Lord Jesus Christ AT HIS COMING.' || ' Who are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready
to be revealed AT THE LAST TIME.' H ' That the spirit may be
SAVED IN THE DAY OF THE LORD JESUS.'** 'Henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall GIVE ME AT THAT DAY.' ft 'Thou shall

* 2 Tim. i. 16—18. f 1 Cor. i. 8. { Acts iii. 19. § Phil. ii. 16.

|| 1 Thess. ii. 19, U 1 Pet. i. 5. ** 1 Cor. v. 5. ff 2 Tim. iv. 8.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 455

be RECOMPENSED AT THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST.'* For

all which there were no reason to be given, but the mention of
the day of judgment would be every where utterly impertinent, if
the reward were declared at the hour of death, and that judgment
which then passeth. For how can that be expected which is
already enjoyed ? Certain we are, that the estate of those that
die in God's grace admits a solicitous expectation of the day of
judgment, though assured of the issue of it. That is it which so
many texts of Scripture alleged afore signify nothing, if they sig
nify it not."t In another place he asserts the antiquity and
universality of praying for the dead, saying, " It has been a
custom so general in the Church to pray for the dead, THAT NO

BEGINNING OF IT CAN BE ASSIGNED, NO TIME, NO PART OF THE

CHURCH WHERE IT WAS NOT USED. But what is that I appeal
to in the prayers of the Church for the dead ? That they are
made for the patriarchs and prophets, for the apostles and martyrs,
even for the blessed Virgin, as well as for all the departed in the
communion of the Church." J And a little after he shews how
these prayers for the dead came to be laid aside, and declares his
earnest desire to have them restored, saying, " It is manifest, that
in the service appointed in the time of king Edward VI., prayer
is made for the dead, both before the communion and at the burial,
to the same purpose as I maintain. It is manifest also, that it
was changed to content the puritans, who, now it appears, could
not be content with less than breaking of the Church in pieces.
And therefore since unity hath not been obtained BY PARTING

WITH THE LAW OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, IN MINE OPINION,
FOR THE LOVE OF IT, I CONTINUE MY RESOLUTION TO BOUND
REFORMATION BY THE RULE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. AlloW-

ing, that it may be matter of reformation to restore the prayers
which are made for the dead, to the original sense of the whole
Church ; but maintaining, that TO TAKE AWAY ALL PRAYER FOR

THE DEAD, IS NOT PARING OFF ABUSES, BUT CUTTING TO THE

QUICK." § And that he continued of this opinion to his dying
day, appears from the inscription he ordered to be put upon his
tombstone in Westminster, which was this : — " Here lies the
body of Herbert Thorndike, prebendary of this Church, who,
whilst he lived, endeavoured to advance the state and condition

* Luke xiv. 14. f Epilogue, Book III. Chap, xxvii. p. 320.

t Epilogue, Book III. Chap, xxviii. p. 333. § Ibid. p. 337.

456 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

of the reformed Church by his prayers and by his studies. Do

THOU, READER, PRAY THAT HE MAY ENJOY REST AND AN HAPPY

RESURRECTION IN CHRIST."* I cannot say these words actually
were put upon his tomb, that must be as others pleased ; but that
he ordered they should be so, was sufficient to shew what his own
opinion was to the end of his life. The enemies of the Church of
England publicly charged such an order upon him soon after his
death, when the truth might easily be enquired into and known,
and I do not find that it was denied either by his friends, or any
friends of the Church. And Dr. Isaac Barrow, bishop of St.
Asaph, who was buried in that Cathedral January 1680., actually
had the following inscription put on his gravestone, according to
his own direction, before his death : — " The reliques of Isaac,
bishop of St. Asaph, deposited in the hand of the Lord, in hope
of a joyful resurrection, through the alone merits of Christ. O

YOU THAT GO INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, THE HOUSE OF
PRAYER, PRAY FOR YOUR FELLOW-SERVANT, THAT HE MAY FIND

MERCY IN THE DAY OF THE LORD." f I have before largely
proved from Mr. Bingham's own words, that he is of opinion that
the Primitive Church did " universally mix water with the sacra
mental wine, that they invocated the descent of the Holy Ghost
to consecrate the elements, and that they prayed for the faithful
departed." J I might produce many more eminent divines of the
Church of England, who have testified concerning the practice of
the Primitive Church in the points now controverted, some in
behalf of one point, some of another, as they have fallen in their
way. But I fear I have carried this discourse already to too
great a length, very much longer than I at first intended, and
therefore shall now hasten to a conclusion.

§ 46. Here are published a great number of ancient Liturgies,
as far as concerns the proper communion office, that is, from the

* Hie jacet corpus Herbert! Thorndike, Prebendarii hujus Ecclesia?, qui
vivus veram Reformatse Ecclesias rationem & modum preeibus studiisque pro-
sequebatur. Tu Lector requiem ei & beatam in Christo resurrectioneni precare.
Rehearsal Transposed, p. 224.

f Exuviae Isaaci Episcopi Asaphensis in manum Domini deposits, in spem
Isetae Resurrectionis per sola Christi merita. O vos transeuntes in Domum
Domini, Domum Orationis, orate pro conserve vestro ut inveniat requiem in
Die Domini, Athen. Oxon. Vol. IT. col. 671.

{ Supr. §. 26. 28, 29.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 457

beginning of the eucharistia, or solemn thanksgiving, till the
elements are distributed. The first of these is taken from a book
called the "Apostolical Constitutions," pretended to be compiled
or collected by St. Clement, by the command of the Apostles, and
therefore we call this the Clementine Liturgy. The learned have
indeed very justly rejected this book as not authentic, or answer
able to what it pretends to be: all are agreed (excepting Mr.
Whiston only) that it was neither dictated by the Apostles, nor
written by their command, but that it was the work of some
private unknown person, who collected such general customs and
practices of the Church, as at the time he wrote were believed to
be apostolical, and published them as written by their order and
direction. It is also agreed by the learned who have examined
the matter, and the testimonies produced for the antiquity of this
collection, that it was made before the Council of Nice, that is,
within 200 years of the death of St. John, the last survivor of the
Apostles. And therefore what he has set down as constituted by
the Apostles, was doubtless an immemorial custom in his days.
For the author, whoever he was, would not be so weak as to put
down any thing as a constitution of the Apostles, whose original
might easily be traced and found to be of a later date. And at
that time it was as easy to trace any custom or practice of the
Church to its original, as it is now to trace any custom or practice
of the Church of England up to the first Reformation. Therefore
we might safely depend upon what he sets down as " Apostolical
Constitutions, to have really been apostolical doctrines, customs,
and practices, if we were but secure that the book had been
transmitted to us as it came out of the first compiler's hand,
without interpolations or after- additions. But as we are not
secure of that, nay are very certain that there are several passages
interpolated or added to it in later ages, therefore we cannot de
pend upon the testimony of this book, where we have not con
temporary evidence, that is, evidence older than the Council of
Nice, to assure that it is not an interpolation. But where we
have but one such evidence, there the testimony of this book may
be relied upon to satisfy us, that it was the general practice of
the Church derived from the Apostles. Having therefore shewed,
that we have such evidence for every part of the communion
office which is here published under the name of the Clementine
Liturgy, we may very safely conclude THAT part of this book has
3 N

458 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

not been interpolated, but has been transmitted to us, as it was
first written, by the compiler of the Constitutions. Upon which
account we may be satisfied, that the form of administering the
communion is the same (in sense at least, if not in words) with
that which was used by the Church before the time of the Council
of Nice, and what had been used beyond all memory when this
book was written : consequently was a practice derived from the
Apostles. For which reason this communion office, thus attested
by the concurrent evidence of the Ante-Nicene fathers, is here set
in the first place as the test and standard by which all other
Liturgies are to be tried, that we may discover what interpola
tions they have received. And upon examination we have found,
that all the other Liturgies are agreeable to this: that is, that
there is nothing in this communion office but what is also in all
the others ; and therefore what we find in the others more than
in this, (I mean in sense, not in words) that we justly conclude
to be an addition or interpolation : and I have also shewn from
other evidence as well as this that they are so. Now these
Liturgies, as far as they are not interpolated ; and, I trust, I have
proved that as far as they agree with the Clementine, (in sense,
though not iu words) they retain their primitive purity, and are
agreeable to their first original, are an evidence of the practice of
almost all the Churches of the known parts of Christendom,
whilst those Churches also were in their purity. For the Liturgy
under the name of St. James was the communion office used in
the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch, and all the provinces
subject to them ; the Liturgy under the name of St. Mark was
the ancient Liturgy of the Church of Alexandria, and the provinces
subject to it ; that which bears the name of St. Chrysostom, the
communion office of all the provinces subject to the patriarch of
Constantinople, as considerable as any of the rest. So that had
we no more Liturgies extant but these, they might be sufficient
to satisfy an unprejudiced person what was, as well as what still
is, the practice of the Greek and Eastern Churches in the admin
istration of the eucharist; which anciently made by much the
largest part of the known Christian world, and where the most
eminent Churches were of apostolical original. And though we
find divers interpolations or additions in all of them, yet where
they agree not only between themselves, but with the account
given concerning the ministration of the eucharist by the most

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 459

ancient fathers, and with the Clementine Liturgy also, (which I
have proved not to be interpolated) it is as good an evidence as a
reasonable man would desire of the antiquity and universality of
those things wherein these Liturgies agree, and that those things
could be of no other than apostolical original ; having Antiquity,
Universality, and Consent, to confirm them. However, more
fully to shew this harmony betwixt all Churches, or pretended
Churches that are of considerable antiquity, and of long continu
ance, there are added to these Liturgies not only that Liturgy
which goes under the name of St. Basil, used at particular times
in that which bears the name of the orthodox Greek Church, but
likewise the Liturgy of St. Basil used by the Monophy sites or
Coptites in the patriarchates of Alexandria and Jerusalem ; the
Liturgy of Nestorius, used by those of that sect in the Eastern
parts of the world, where they are very numerous ; the Liturgy of
Severus, used by the Monophy sites, in the patriarchate of Antioch ;
and the Ethiopic Liturgy, used by that large kingdom of Ethiopia,
who received their metropolitan from the Coptite patriarch of
Alexandria, which though all unorthodox, yet by their agreement
with the Catholic Church in all those parts of the communion
office wherein the Catholic Liturgies have been agreeable to each
other, may be of great use farther to convince us of the univer
sality of those practices, wherein those were so fully agreed, who
yet would hold no communion the one with the other, but have
continued for above a thousand years to treat each other as
heretics. For if it be a more convincing argument (as I conceive
it is) that the Canon of the New Testament consists of those books,
and those only we receive as such, because Christians of different
persuasions, and different communions, have received them, and
them only as Canonical, than it would have been for one, though
the most orthodox communion, alone to have received them as
such ; so where we find the several Liturgies used by numerous
Churches of different communions agreeable and harmonious to
each other, it is a fuller argument that those points wherein they
so agree are of apostolical tradition, than if they were to be found
among one communion of Christians only, though the most ortho
dox, numerous, and diffusive. And for this reason it is that the
Liturgy of Nestorius, and so many Liturgies of the Monophysites,
are here published ; that it may be seen how the Christians of
different communions have agreed in the now controverted points,

460 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

as well as they agree in the books which make up the Canon of
the New Testament. Consequently that the tradition for these
points is as universal as it is for the Canon of Scripture. But
though the Greek Church be much the largest, and has produced
a greater number of ancient writers and ancient Liturgies than
the Western, yet the testimony of the Western Church adds a
considerable weight to the former evidence. And though we
have only some fragments left of the Liturgies used in these parts
of the world, yet there is enough in those fragments, and so many
of them are here published, as may convince us that the Western
Church agreed with the Eastern and Greek Church in the points
now disputed. And though I take the Roman Canon to be of
the least authority of any communion service that pretends to
antiquity, for reasons before given,* yet as it was for many ages
used in all, and still is in most Churches of the Western part of
Christendom, I thought it by no means proper to omit it, when I
was intending to give the English reader an account of the man
ner of celebrating the eucharist at all times, in all places, and by
all persons, from the beginning of Christianity to the Reformation,
as far as we have an account of the matter. Then I was willing
to let him see what was done in England at the Reformation, in
order to rectify the Roman Canon, which was used here till that
time, and reduce it to the primitive standard, from which it had
deviated by the addition of divers corrupt clauses which had crept
into the Canon itself, and a multitude of superstitious, not to say
idolatrous, Rubrics : for which reason the first Liturgy of king-
Edward VI. is here also published. By which the reader may
see that our first Reformers, if they had been left to themselves,
would have transmitted a Liturgy to us much nearer the primitive
standard than the Roman Canon would have been, if only the
corrupt clauses and superstitious rubrics had been omitted. How
ever Calvin, and other foreign presbyterians his emissaries, such
as Bucer, Martyr, and Fagius, prevailed with the court party,
which seemed at that time to have the whole power of religion
here in their hands, to alter the whole Common Prayer Book, and
particularly the communion office, for one very near the same
with that now used. And I desire the reader that he would
impartially compare the present communion office of the Church

* Supr. § 40.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 461

of England with those here published, particularly with the
Clementine, the most ancient of all, and the test and standard by
which the rest may be tried, and then judge for himself, whether
he find it harmonious with or agreeable to any of them. He will
there find all of them mix water with the sacramental wine ; that
all, except the Roman, not only begin with an eucharistic or
thanksgiving prayer, beginning, " It is meet, right, and our
bounden duty," &c., and so going on to the seraphic hymn,
" Holy, Holy, Holy," &c., but that it is likewise continued by
another thanksgiving for the creation, preservation, and redemp
tion of mankind, till the consecration is finished. But he will
find no such thanksgiving in the communion office of his Common
Prayer Book. He will find in all of them a prayer of oblation,
with a thankful remembrance of Christ's death, which the Church
of England teaches her communicants they ought to testify, but
has made no provision for their doing it in her office : he will in )
all of them, exc_ej)t the Roman, (yet there the Greeks say is a
prayer to the same effect) meet with a petition that God would
cause the Holy Ghost to descend upon the bread and wine, to
make them the body and blood of Christ, which he will not see
in his Common Prayer Book. He will find in all of them a
prayer or petition for those that sleep in peace, and are at rest
from their labours ; but in his Common Prayer Book he will see
all the dead expressly excluded from the prayers of the Church,
by words militant here in earth. He will likewise find the
intercession for all states and conditions of men in his Common
Prayer Book is wholly excluded from the eucharistic office,
though it makes a part of it in all the other Liturgies.

Now as the ancient Liturgies all agree in all these points, and
in no other so unanimously and harmoniously, can any one think
that the present Church of England has not departed from the
communion of the whole Catholic Church, in rejecting so many
things, which were always practised by the Catholic Church ?
And if she has thus broke her communion with the Catholic
Church, is it a question which we ought to communicate with,
the Primitive and truly Catholic Church itself, or a particular
Church, which has so plainly deviated from that communion?
Let them then compare the communion office here compiled for
the use of those who are fully sensible of the apparent defects in
the communion office of the Church of England, and examine it

462 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

by the other Liturgies, and then judge if it be not perfectly
agreeable and harmonious with them in all things but their plain
corruptions, which I have taken notice of in the foregoing
discourse. And if this new compiled communion office be
agreeable to the doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church at
all times, and in all places, and that in the Common Prayer
Book be not so, sure there is a tolerable foundation for what we
have done, notwithstanding our adversaries are pleased to say
there is none. And to satisfy the English reader that it is not a
principle newly started by us, that apostolical and universal
traditions of the Catholic Church do oblige us to an obedience,
and that no particular Church has authority to cancel that
obligation; I have shewed that three most learned Divines of
the Church of England taught the very same doctrine with regard
to the authority of traditions about fifty years ago ; neither have
I read or heard, that their advancing such a doctrine was ever
condemned as an error in them by any Divine of the Church of
England since that time. All then that we have done has been
only to put in practice what Dr. Hammond, Mr. Thorndike, and
bishop Taylor, (and I question not but I might find many others
who have asserted the same, if I would search for them) declared
to be a duty so many years ago. Then as to the points we
contend for, I have shewed that we were not the first who
discovered them to be primitive and universal traditions. Arch
bishop Wake taught us, that where we find all the ancient
Liturgies to agree in sense at least, if not in words, as they
certainly do in the now controverted points, we may conclude
that the Church received those things from apostolical direction
or tradition. And bishop Hickes and Mr. Johnson taught before
us, that the mixture, prayer for the dead, the oblation and
invocation, were Primitive and Catholic traditions: and long
before Mr. Thorndike taught the invocation and prayer for the
dead to be universal traditions and necessary duties, and calls
the taking away all prayer for the dead, not paring off abuses,
but cutting to the quick. And bishop Forbes before him spoke
much in the same manner of prayer for the dead. And Dr.
Isaac Barrow, bishop of St. Asaph, particularly desired those
that came into the house of the Lord, would pray for him after
his death. And since the controversy was started, Mr. Binghani
has proved the mixture, the invocation, and prayer for the

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 463

dead, to be primitive and universal traditions. And Mr. Spinekes,
whom no body, that knows any thing of our controversy, will
judge to be partial to our side of the question, allows us the
testimony of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and St. Cyprian, for the
mixed cup,* which our adversaries have endeavoured to deprive
us of by their criticisms upon the signification of plain words.
Nay our adversaries themselves, even those that have most
zealously opposed us, confess all these things to be desideranda,
what they are desirous to see restored in a regular way. I
hope therefore that the impartial reader, when he has duly con
sidered what these unprejudiced persons have said in this case,
will judge that we had, at least, a tollable fOUU&attOU for
what we have done.

The Church of England herself has given us direction, in the
most positive express terms that can be, to adhere to the practice
of the Primitive Church in the celebration of the eucharist:
saying, BEFORE ALL OTHER THINGS, THIS WE MUST BE SURE
OF ESPECIALLY, that this supper be in such wise done and
ministered, as our Lord and Saviour did, and commanded to
be done ; as his holy Apostles used it, and THE GOOD FATHERS

IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH FREQUENTED IT.f

Now we are assured by the unanimous agreement betwixt the
Liturgies here published, by the testimony of the good fathers of
the Primitive Church before cited in this discourse, by the judg
ment of many eminent bishops and Divines of the Church of
England, who had diligently searched the writings of the ancients,
that the good fathers of the Primitive Church never frequented
the holy eucharist, but their cup was of wine mixed with water;
they offered the elements to God in remembrance of Christ's
death ; they prayed for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon
them, to make them the body and blood of Christ ; and they
also prayed for the faithful departed. Therefore, if we would
do and minister this supper as the good fathers in the Primitive
Church frequented it, which the Church of England enjoins us

BEFORE ALL THINGS TO BE SURE OF ESPECIALLY, WC are obliged

to do and minister it with a mixed cup, an oblation of the
elements, an invocation for the descent of the Holy Ghost, and
prayer for the dead. Consequently in doing these things, we

* Article of the Romish Transubstantiation, &c., p. 71, 72. 74.
f First part of the Sermon concerning the Sacrament.

464 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING

are obedient to the directions of the Church of England. And
this I hope our adversaries will allow to be a tolerable foundation
for what we have done. For though the Church of England
has prescribed another form so disagreeable to that which was
used by the good fathers of the Primitive Church, yet since she
directs us that BEFORE ALL THINGS we be sure ESPECIALLY to do
and minister this supper AS THE GOOD FATHERS IN THE PRIMI
TIVE CHURCH FREQUENTED IT, where there are two rules of the
same Church so contrary to each other, we may presume that we
cannot be said to be disobedient to her, when we follow that rule
which she enjoins us to observe especially and before all things;
consequently before any other rule, though prescribed by herself.
It is therefore to be hoped that the governors of the Church of
England (as soon as they have opportunity for it) will duly
consider how she has prescribed us two contrary rules, which
cannot both be obeyed: and so correct their communion office,
that the holy eucharist may be so done and ministered AS THE

GOOD FATHERS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH FREQUENTED IT.

That since (as archbishop Wake expresses it) " it can hardly be
doubted but that the holy Apostles and Evangelists did give
some directions for the administration of the blessed eucharist in
the Churches which they founded; it may reasonably be presumed
that some of those orders are still remaining in those Liturgies
which have been brought down to us; and that those prayers
wherein they all agree, (in sense at least, if not in words) were
first prescribed in the same or like terms by the Apostles and
Evangelists;"* they would be pleased to restore those things to
the communion office of the Church of England, wherein all
these Liturgies agree. [ dare say, that learned archbishop in
particular can never be against restoring what he finds to have
been prescribed by the holy Apostles and Evangelists. And if
this be done, we shall very readily conform to such a communion
office.

In a word, we think it absolutely necessary to hold close to the
communion of the Primitive and Catholic Church, founded by
our Saviour and his holy Apostles, and therefore are firmly
persuaded, that as Dr. Hammond expresses it, " If the particular
Church wherein we were baptized, shall by authority or law set

* Preliminary Dissertation to Apostolical Fathers, p. 102.

THE PRECEDING LITURGIES. 465

up that, which, if not contrary to plain words of Scripture, is yet
contrary to the doctrine and practice of the Universal Church in
the first and purest times, meekness requires our obedience and
submission to the Catholic Apostolic Church, and not to the par
ticular wherein we live."* And forasmuch as we conceive, that
" what is proposed is an essential part of religion, therefore in
this case no fear of its consequences could dissuade from, nor
justify our longer refusal of it, but we were obliged to make the
alterations we have done, in order to discharge our duty faithfully ;
and we leave events to God's all- wise providence, which over
rules all things, and can easily cause them to work together for
good to them that love him:' Which is what our first adversary
savs, ought to be done in such a case, f And I most humbly
and heartily beseech God, that as he has been graciously pleased
to discover to this generation a more general knowledge of the
doctrines and practices of the Primitive Church, than our fore
fathers for some ages have had before us : (for though there were
some as learned men in all times since the Reformation as any
now living, yet I am persuaded, that as to the knowledge of the
fathers, no modern age has had so many as the present) so he
will be graciously pleased to infuse a primitive spirit into us, and
make us not only almost, but altogether such as the Primitive
Christians were, except their bonds. But especially that he
would vouchsafe us the means and the will to use those means of
making the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Church of
England, exactly agreeable to that of the truly Catholic and
Apostolic Church. That neither Papists nor Presbyterians, nor
any other adversaries, may justly reproach her any more with
being unprimitive in any doctrine or practice : this is my earnest
prayer and endeavour, and the good Lord grant it may have the
desired effect, through the merits of Jesus Christ : to whom with
the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, now and
for evermore. Amen.

* Practical Catechism, lib. II. Sect. I. p. 31. 1st. vol. of his Works,
f No Reason, &c. p. 80, 81.

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DEAHDEN, PRINTEB, CARLTON-STREET, NOTTINGHAM.

BRETT, T BQ?

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